


Wizards and Woodsmen, Beauties and Beasts

by nekosd43



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Cooking Lessons, Developing Friendships, Fairy Tale Curses, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Magic, Memory Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Recovery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-03-16 22:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13645572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekosd43/pseuds/nekosd43
Summary: Once upon a time, a Woodsman confronted a tyrant and was cursed to become a Beast.  Now a monstrous manifestation of his sorrow and grief, he locked himself away from the world and waited to die.Also once upon a time, a Wizard ran away from his problems, and found himself stumbling into the home of the Beast.  His Beauty charms the Beast, but it will take more than love to release him from his curse.A Beauty and the Beast themed Taagnus fic.





	1. A Tale of Woe Begins

Once upon a time, in a kingdom familiar to one you may know (not _so_ familiar, but not so _not_ familiar), there lived a humble young Woodsman and his beloved new Wife.  The two of them lived a quiet life in a quiet cottage in the woods, untroubled by the world.

They were very happy together, and very much in love.

But Fate often is cruel to those who are young and in love.

It began with the traders and hunters who passed through their forest, carrying tales of a Lord and tyrant ruling over the nearby town.  Stories of unfair tariffs and cruel punishments for those who could not keep up.  A Lord who used dark magic to twist the people into doing terrible things.  A Lord who did not serve his people, and his people suffered for his rule.

And the Woodsman and his Wife would not abide by it.

The Woodsman was a good man who couldn’t stand by and watch others suffer, his blood boiled at the news.  And his Wife was a good woman, a fiery force, passionate and empathetic to those in need.  They had retreated to the forest to enjoy a quiet life together as newlyweds, but their hearts burned for those they saw suffering.

They would not stand by and watch.

They staged a coup with the help of the townspeople.  They stormed his castle to take down the Lord, tearing down the system that trampled those who lived there.

But as the wicked Lord fell, he uttered a terrible curse upon all who were present; a curse of sadness and woe upon the harbingers of his downfall.  He claimed a Beast would arrive and drown them all in infinite grief and suffering, until they knew nothing but their deepest sorrows.  That anyone who opposed him would be rendered incapable of love, joy, or happiness, no more feeling than stone or wood.

The townspeople were frightened.  The Lord knew dark magics, knew ways to twist their suffering to his will.  They were unsure if this threat was only that or something more.

The Woodsman told the townspeople not to worry about the old fool, that they would be happy and thrive without him, but the Lord simply pointed to him and said he would be the first consumed by the Beast before the harvest moon.

The Woodsman simply locked the Lord away.

And for a few weeks, it was good.

The townspeople flocked to the castle, using it as a headquarters to discuss their future.  The Woodsman and his Wife temporarily lived together in the castle, helping the community stabilize in the wake of the Lord’s defeat.  Many wanted the couple to consider being the town’s first elected mayor, but the Woodsman wasn’t certain they were suited to so much responsibility.

They did not have very long to consider it.

Three weeks after the Lord fell, the rains started.

They were strange, chilling rains that never stopped.  The skies poured down on the town and the castle for days straight.  Many said that this was the Curse, that this was the Lord’s revenge, but the Woodsman insisted that it was simply odd weather.

Then one day after walking in the storm, his Wife fell mysteriously ill, growing sicker and weaker with every passing day.  Fearing for her safety, the Woodsman hurried his Wife to a corner of the castle, where he did his best to nurse her back to health.  The Woodsman tended to her every need, and stayed by her side at every moment he could, but just as quickly as she fell ill, she passed away.

And that was when the Curse took hold.

Overcome with sorrow for the death of his Wife, the Woodsman was transfigured by hideous magics into a monster.  A huge and hulking beast that felt nothing but grief and shame.  The townspeople tried to comfort him, to help him back to reason, but the Woodsman had already begun to forget everything but the sadness that consumed him.

The Woodsman went to confront the Lord, but he had escaped from jail and run off in the night.  So a clever Scholar and a kindly Cleric sought to reverse the curse by casting a spell on a simple chalice to create a potent draught that would let the Woodsman remember and return to his humanity.  But the Lord’s Curse, or perhaps the Woodsman’s grief, was too strong and the spell rebounded, cursing everyone in the castle and town.  They too were transformed, souls bound into the furnishings of the castle to become unfeeling things made of wood and stone.  And they too were consumed by the powerful grief, all but forgetting their lives before.

The Woodsman, now more Beast than Man, felt responsible for the terrible fate that had befallen this village.  He gathered the townsfolk, many of who were slowly becoming no more than inanimate objects as their sadness consumed them, and locked them all away in the castle with him.  He would protect them and take care of them, tend to their needs and guard them, until he finally passed away.

He hoped that with him, the Curse would also die.

And so the castle passed into legend, forgotten by all, and those within it forgetting the world outside it, unable to see past the curtain of cursed rains falling forever just outside their door.

They were certain this was how their story ended.

But Fate had other plans.

* * *

 

“Is _that_ it?  We didn’t get any more than that?”

“I told you,” Sazed sighed with a shrug as he pulled the reins, “We gotta stop doing this in these shitty small towns.”

Taako was a far-from-humble chef and wizard with dreams of being famous.  He had always felt like there was something _missing_ in his life, and cooking helped fill that hole.  There wasn’t much for him in the small farming village he came from, so he packed his skillet and hit the road, hoping to make a name for himself as a culinary artist.  He had built himself up from poverty, at first with less-than-legal methods, but then going legit with some luck, magic, and some damn good food.  

He eventually did well enough to need the help of an assistant, and so he hired Sazed, a handsome and strong human who knew a little cooking and magic himself.  Together they were able to put together their traveling wagon, and they moved from city to city, putting on shows for paying crowds that showed off Taako’s flashy cooking skills and magical ability.  They were on the road between stops, snug shoulder to shoulder in the wagon as their mule lazily strolled on.  

Yesterday they had done a show in a one-horse town at Taako’s insistence, but as he sifted through the coins in the till he was saddened to find just barely enough to cover the day’s expenses.  It was a lot of work to run a traveling cooking show, and a lot of money to finance it.  They used to get by on admittance fees from patrons, but things had gotten tight.  Lately they were lucky to have a dozen people in a crowd.

“Look, shitty small towns have hungry people too,” Taako scoffed, tossing the sack of coins into the back of the wagon with a frown.  “I know it’s not glamorous, but I’m telling you, the folks in the big city are even more stingy with their money.  At least the little people aren’t ashamed to try something new if they’re going to get a meal out of it.”

Sazed scowled, gesturing absently to the countryside.

“We really would be having an easier time if you let me do things my way.”

“I told you, you’re not ready to be a frontman yet-”

“I’m just as good as - ugh, never mind,” Sazed huffed, “Not the _cooking_ , I meant grifting the audience.”

Taako shook his head.  “We’re not _stealing_ from people who come to see us, Sazed,” he snapped, “We are not having this discussion _again_ , we don’t steal from people who already paid to see us perform.  It’s shitty and I’m not doing it.”

“Well how about people who _don’t_ come see us?” Sazed asked.  He was met with a stern gaze from Taako.  “I get it Taak, you want to get by on your art, but if we continue like this we’re not going to be able to afford to feed _ourselves_ , never mind a half dozen audience members.  This shit costs money.  The food, the venues, the spell components… We’re bleeding ourselves dry trying to make this work.”

Taako sighed, long ears drooping.  “I know Saze,” Taako muttered.  “But I got into this to get _out_ of stealing.  Nobody ever believed a little shit like me could make it on the straight and narrow.  If I can’t do this with my own skills, what’s the point?”

“We’re gonna go _broke_ ,” Sazed replied.  “You gotta let me take care of this Taako.  I can do this.  I can cook something up, some kinda hustle to help us get rich quick if you just-”

“No, and that’s the last I want to talk about it!” Taako cried.  “We’re doing this the _honest_ way for once, and if you don’t like it you can shove off!”

“Alright _alright_ ,” Sazed answered hastily with a wave of his hand, “I hear you loud and clear.”

But that night when they pulled over on the side of the road to sleep, Taako couldn’t help but notice Sazed counting the money again and again by the light of their campfire.

Their next show didn’t go much better.

“Maybe we could promote more?” Taako mused, absently stirring their pot of morning porridge.  “We could split up, and you could go into town and be my hype man for a bit before I show up.”

“Yeah?” Sazed grumbled, once again fumbling with the bag of coins.

“I think if we get the word out better more people will show up,” Taako continued to himself.  “Really get the word out, that it’s dinner _and_ a show.  The people who come have a great time, but nobody knows who I am yet.  A big handsome guy like you will help sell the idea.  If you get in early and really sell up the Taako name, maybe that will entice more people in.”

“You think it’s a name recognition thing?” Sazed replied.

“Yeah.  The really _good_ artists die young and are immortalized forever,” Taako shrugged, “But barring that we at least try to get some name recognition.”

At that Sazed went quiet, staring into the fire as the pot of oats boiled above it.

“Did you hear me Sazed?”

“Huh?” he stammered, “O-oh, yeah.  I was just thinking about ways to hype your show up.”

“Good man,” Taako hummed.

After breakfast, Sazed packed up a knapsack with a few essentials and headed off to the next town on foot.  Taako hung back, checking over their stash of ingredients (which was getting low), trying to come up with something that would wow the town and potentially get him back in the flush.  As he checked their magically cooled meat storage, he realized the perfect thing that would go with what they had, and grabbed his stone of farspeech to get Sazed.

“Hey, when you get into town, can you get some garlic at the apothecary?” Taako hummed.  “Say about… 30 cloves or so?”

* * *

 

The night of the show was a huge success, with an excited crowd bigger than Taako had ever seen.  Sazed had done his job, and people all over town were talking about a traveling magical chef that put on nightly shows.  It made Taako’s chest swell with pride, to see all those people happy and even _excited_ to see him.  And as he worked, cooking and casting spells to dazzle the audience, he was reminded why he wanted to do this so badly.  He _loved_ this.  He loved making people happy.

But the next morning, things started to go wrong.

Around noon, word started to spread that one of the audience members had died in their sleep.  The rest, it was revealed, were quickly declining, all suddenly ill and getting sicker by the moment.

Food poisoning, the town’s only cleric had said, was the only logical explanation.

“I don’t get it,” Taako hissed to Sazed as he quietly joined the elf in their cart that night.  Taako had hid as soon as rumors had started to spread, lying low in his wagon, now parked in the woods just outside of town.  They had taken down all the promotional signs and banners, and had draped cloth and branches over the canvas to disguise it a little better.  Sazed had gone into town to check on what was happening, but everyone in town was still talking about Taako.  For once, that _wasn’t_ what Taako wanted. “It was just _chicken_ .  I _fully_ cooked it, no question, there shouldn’t be any reason for this.  Why are people getting sick?”

“I don’t know,” Sazed replied, “But people are starting to see the connection between the people getting sick and your show.  They’re already looking for you.  People want answers.”

“I don’t have _anything_ for them!” Taako cried, hands twisting into his hair, “I’m just as confused as you are!”

“Well they aren’t taking too kindly to knowing we were in this together,” Sazed growled, “Not after all the hype I did.  Folks are accusing me of _luring_ people in to get them sick.”  He shook his head.  “This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for your _stupid_ plan.”

“Sazed that’s _ridiculous_ I-”

Sazed shushed, and clamped a hand over Taako’s mouth.  They stilled, listening to the wind in the trees and the scratching of the branches against the canvas.  Then, faintly, Taako heard it.  Somewhere outside, two people were talking in hushed tones.

“Yeah… _all forty_ of them are sick or dying,” the first voice said.  “If they ain’t dead already.”

“I ain’t seen anything like it,” the second voice replied.  “An illness on such a large scale… It’s frankly the most _evil_ scheme one could come up with.  Do you really think this Taako fellow _planned_ for it?”

“It seems too unlikely that _everyone_ would get sick on an accident,” the first man agreed.  “And then sending in that guy to promote him, to trick people into coming to see him?  And honestly it’s suspicious that he’s suddenly disappeared now that trouble’s brewing.  I think it’s pretty fair to say he’s involved somehow.  Come on, we better go talk to the sheriff.”

As they walked away, Taako pushed Sazed’s hand away from his mouth in a panic.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Taako hissed, “We are _fucked_ .  I have _no idea_ why people are getting sick.”

“Could it have been the magic?” Sazed answered.  “All those spell components around the food, maybe one of them got in it?  That has to be it.”

“I don’t think I was using anything that _dangerous…_ nothing that could have caused _this…_ ”

Sazed looked grim as he looked at Taako.  He glanced down quickly, then looked back up at Taako’s face.

“Did you eat any of it?”

Taako thought about the night, about the show and all the work he had done during it, but he couldn’t remember _tasting_ the dish.  Usually he would, to check for proper seasoning, but the large and eager crowd had him anxious and nervous to please, so he had wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.  He hadn’t even _thought_ about that, but now that Sazed mentioned it, it was clear that the food was responsible, even if he didn’t know why.  He was the _only_ one who hadn’t eaten it, and now he was the only one who _wasn’t_ sick.

“No…” Taako admitted.  “I was too busy.”

“They’re gonna come looking for you,” Sazed muttered.  “Someone is gonna have to take the fall for this.”

As they slept in the wagon, Taako turned that over and over in his mind.   _Someone_ would have to take the fall, but Taako already knew that would be him.  Sazed might get some heat, but there was no denying that it was Taako who cooked and prepared that meal that made everyone sick.  He didn’t know _how_ he had done it, but it was his fault.  And when the sheriff started looking into his past, they’d find a childhood of criminal activity that would paint a sorry picture of himself.  He was innocent, but it wouldn’t look that way.  He had tried so hard to build himself up, and now it was all going to come crashing down again.

He couldn’t let that happen.

In the early hours of the morning, before the sun was up but after the birds had begun to sing, Taako got ready to leave.  He knew that running was the same as admitting he was guilty, but he couldn’t think of a better option.  He left the money for Sazed, and all their shared belongings, taking only a cloak, a bed roll, a few days of rations, and a small bag of spell components.  Sazed would be okay.  He’d have the wagon still, and the money, and he’d be able to start again without Taako.  He’d been training to do the show himself, maybe he’d be able to carry on.

He did not know where he would go, but he figured going deeper into the trees was the safest way to avoid detection.  Maybe he’d meet up with Sazed again, in another town, once all this had blown over.  Once his bag was packed, Taako took one last long look in the darkened wagon, at everything he had worked for, before slipping off into the forest and disappearing into the morning sunrise.

* * *

 

The forest was a labyrinth, and Taako soon found himself turned around in the snaking branches of the trees.  He wandered for what felt like hours, until the sky grew dark and cold.  At first he assumed it was night, until suddenly a drop of cold water splashed onto his head.  Looking up, he heard a crack of thunder, and then the sky opened up and began to pour down rain in a harsh torrent.  Pulling his cloak up over his head, Taako hurried deeper into the forest.

The rain was him chilling to the bone, and Taako began to worry he would not be able to find shelter.  No matter which way he turned, it seemed as though the forest stretched on and on endlessly.  The rain only made it more difficult, making darker and harder to see.  Taako hurriedly cast an illumination spell, and found that the lights of his magic could barely penetrate the darkness around him.

He was well and truly lost.

While he had brought his bedroll, Taako did not want to sleep in the middle of the rainstorm.  But as he wandered, and hours began to drag on, Taako began to wonder if he had any other options.  Despite being surrounded by trees, none of them seemed to provide shelter from the rain.  He no longer could tell how long he had been walking, but his feet told him it had been awhile.  About to give up all hope, Taako crouched down under the overhang of a particularly slumped and gnarled tree, and went to retrieve a ration from his bag.

That was when he saw it.

A light, shimmering in the darkness, to the east of him.  At first he thought it could be the sun rising, but the longer he looked the more he realized that it was far too faint for that.  The rain made it difficult to see, but it looked large - possibly a house?  Taako hastily scarfed down his ration of jerky and tightened his cloak as he headed towards it.

A house would be good.  A house meant a warm fire and a dry floor to sleep on.  If he was lucky, the owner wouldn’t have heard of the illness ravaging the village he just left, and he would be able to stay there until the whole thing blew over.  He had been wandering for a long time, surely it would be safe.

As he drew closer, though, he found the light growing larger and brighter.  Much larger than a house.  Then, through the rain, he saw a massive shape taking form on the horizon: a building _much_ larger than a house.  And as it became clearer, he realized it was a castle, with towers stretching up into the sky.  A warm light was coming from several of the windows.  As the castle drew closer, the forest began to thin around Taako, slowly giving way to washed out gardens and small leaky cottages in the shadow of the castle, and eventually what appeared to be a small town.

Hurrying through the rain, Taako glanced at the cobblestone homes he was passing, but none of them appeared to be occupied.   _Strange_ , but he had more pressing things to worry about.  The castle was getting closer, and the prospect of holding up inside a _castle_ seemed pretty good to Taako, even if it was surrounded by a a creepy abandoned town.  He supposed the castle might be empty too, though the inviting glow of it’s interior seemed to suggest otherwise.  It was a stark contrast to the dark empty homes surrounding it at least.

Finally he had reached the gate just outside of the castle courtyard.  The castle was massive, the dark stone of the walls covered with snaking, climbing vines peppered with sparse flowers.  The courtyard too was decorated with statues, and Taako could see that they were all animals.  Taako idly wondered if the Lord of the castle might have been a hunter.  

The iron gate looked incredibly heavy, but when he put his hands on it Taako found that it swung open without much resistance. The rain was still pouring down, and Taako could see just barely in the darkness that the heavy sheets of rain were causing torrents of water to sluice off the roof of the castle like waterfalls.  He rushed across the flooded courtyard, cursing every step that soaked through his thin boots, until he found himself on the doorstep.

The door was massive, carved from a dark wood that Taako did not recognize.  It was fitted with large iron knockers, and Taako tentatively reached for one.  If someone _was_ home, it would be rude to just walk in.  Lifting the heavy iron ring, Taako rapped it against the wooden door.

Silence.

Taako tried again, this time shouting for good measure.  “Hello?” he cried, huddling close to the door to avoid the runoff of rainwater.  “I was just passing through and got caught up in this storm!  Any chance you can be a pal and open up for ch’boy?”

At that, the door unlocked, and the heavy wood swung inwards.  Taako hurried inside, eager to thank whoever had opened the door, but as he looked around he realized that there wasn’t a soul there.  The door, it seemed, had opened by itself.

Standing bewildered in the center of the massive entry hall, Taako whirled around before realizing that the door was probably enchanted.  He then took off his sopping cloak, and draped it on the coat rack by the door.

“Hello?” Taako cried, scanning the many doorways and balconies in the room.  This castle appeared to be massive, and well furnished too, with plush carpets and beautiful ornate furniture.  Surely _someone_ lived here.  “Sorry for just _walking in_ but you shouldn’t enchant your door to let _anyone_ in!  That’s just, like, basic security measures.”  

There was no response save the echoing of his own voice.

With a sigh, Taako walked around the entry hall, glancing into doorways and peeking up staircases in hopes of spotting a shy occupant, but there was no one to be seen.  There were a few candles lit in a couple rooms, but no one there to tend to them.  He headed up the grand central staircase, thinking maybe the owner of the house was upstairs and couldn’t hear him.  At a landing halfway up, Taako spotted a table with an ornate candelabra on it.  It too was lit, and he reached for it in order to provide a little extra light as he looked around.

The base of the candlestick was silver, and formed in the shape of a serious young woman with long flowing robes.  A candle was balanced on each of her extended hands, and another rest on top of a dish poised on her head.  It was weirdly detailed, Taako noted he was able to see all the folds in her gown, every curl in her hair with great detail in the flickering candlelight.

Working up the stairs Taako found more empty rooms, fully furnished but completely untouched.  It looked like none of it had been used in years.  Just as he was about to give up and collapse onto a musty looking couch, he heard snippets of faint whispering coming from what appeared to be a bedroom.

_“-don’t know how he-”_

_“Don’t know.  Don’t know.”_

_“-matter now, why hasn’t the spell-”_

_“- he isn’t affected, maybe it’s finally weakened.”_

_“Finally.  Finally!”_

“Hail and well met!” Taako said with a soft cough.  “I’m, uh, Taako?  Sorry for breaking into your house.  Your door spell didn’t keep me out, I guess.”

Rounding the corner to enter, he was once again met with a completely empty room.  As he suspected, it was a bedroom, dark but lush with a large four poster bed underneath a wispy canopy.  There was a vanity, with hairbrushes and a hand-held mirror, and next to that was a dresser, one drawer open as if someone had been rummaging through it.  On the far end was a piano, on top of which was an ornate broken clock, and next to the piano was an umbrella stand with a single red umbrella in it.

“Ooooh… kay?” Taako stammered.  “I thought… If you’re hiding, you can come out.  I’m just a humble idiot wizard.”

But nobody came out.  Maybe he had been hearing things.

Taako set the candelabra down on the vanity, looking around the room to discern where the voices had come from, but seeing the bed had made him realize how exhausted he was.  He hadn’t slept in what felt like over a day, and his feet were numb from walking in the flooded courtyard.  It seemed as though this castle was truly empty, as strange as it was.  To be certain, Taako hastily cast a _Locate Creature_ spell, looking for signs of human life within the castle, but he returned nothing.  He cast it again, looking for elves, but returned nothing.  Frustrated, Taako plopped down onto the bed.

He _could_ spend the rest of the night trying to cast a spell for every race on Farun… or he could accept that he was well and truly alone here.

The latter was more appealing.

After kicking off his soaked boots and shimmying out of his leggings, Taako pulled down the soft comforter on the four poster bed and climbed in, sinking into the soft blankets and pillowy mattress.  It had been a long time since he had slept in a real bed, let alone one this plush and warm.  Whoever’s castle this was, they had spared no expense on thread count.

Taako took one more look around the bedroom, scanning one last time for signs of life, before finally lying down and curling up for sleep.  He let it wash over him, just as the rain washed over the castle, drowning out any lingering thoughts he had until all that remained was silence and sleep.


	2. The All But Forgotten Castle, and Those Who Lived There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Though things were looking grim for the Wizard, he hoped that a good night's sleep would improve his situation.
> 
> What he did not expect was that the hidden residents of the castle he had hid in for refuge were in dire need of help, and would happily take it from anyone who managed to find them.

Taako was surprised to find when he awoke that the rain was still coming down outside.  Blearily rolling over in the bed, he glanced outside the window and found the sky as pitch black as it had been when he had gone to sleep.

“Storm of the fucking century,” he yawned to himself, kicking off the covers and stretching.  Now that he felt better rested and less panicked, he took another, less frantic look around the room he had slept in.

It was nice, probably a guest room from the size and look of it.  The bed certainly didn’t feel like it had been slept in very much, and there was a fine layer of dust atop the piano keys to show that it had not been played in quite awhile.  With another yawn Taako got out of bed, feet enjoying the feeling of a nice plush rug underneath them.

“Alright,” he muttered, glancing around the room.  “Where did I put…”

After a bit of searching on the floor, he found his leggings folded up and sitting on the vanity bench, while his boots were tucked nicely beneath it.   _Strange_ , he thought.   _I don’t remember doing that._

But it had been a long and confusing day, maybe he had folded them up without realizing it.  He made his way over to the vanity, checking out all the assorted bottles and brushes upon it.  He hadn’t noticed it last night in his panic, but the large mirror one normally would use when sitting at a vanity like this was shattered: a large crack ran right through the center of it and splintered outward like a spider’s web, making it impossible to use for beauty purposes.  

He supposed this was why there was a small brass hand mirror sitting there, which he picked up to inspect.  He found that it was decorated with a nautical theme, the frame embellished with small seashells.  A faint patina had started to form on it, discoloring the shells so they looked to be a mottled green.  Still the glass on it was good, so Taako checked his reflection (flawless, if a bit harried looking) before setting it down again.

That done, Taako quickly slipped his leggings and boots back on.  Thankfully they were dry, which Taako was grateful for.  Once dressed, Taako made his way over to the dresser and rooted through the clothes there to see if he could find a warm coat or some thicker pants.

There wasn’t much that met Taako’s style criteria, just more leggings and dress shirts, but in one of the drawers he found a pair of very sturdy denim blue jeans.  Jeans weren’t Taako’s style at all, but if that was the best option to avoid hypothermia in the rain, he’d take it.  He tossed the jeans on the bed and started looking through more drawers, pulling out warm looking socks and a thick wool shirt to take with him.

Taako glanced at the clock on top of the piano, trying to figure out what time it was, but he remembered noticing last night that it was broken.  Why anyone would keep a broken clock was a mystery to him, but he wasn’t about to judge the owner of an abandoned castle.  The clock was very old, and the ornate hands were stuck at 7 and 5, but Taako could see the fine detail in the tiny golden leaves etched around the edge of the clock face.  One side of the clock had an elegant filigree coming off it that looked like a rose vine, but Taako could see that the delicate decoration had been snapped off on the other side, probably in the same accident that made the clock permanently read 7:25.

Finally Taako went over to the umbrella stand.  If he was going to go back outside again, this was the one thing he _definitely_ wanted.  He reached down and grasped the handle, lifting it up so he could inspect it.  The fabric of the umbrella was plain in design, though a garish and vibrant red that Taako was certain one would be able to see from a mile away.  The handle, however, was a finely carved piece of wood, stained with cherry varnish and made to look like some sort of bird - maybe a swan?  It was lovely, but Taako wasn’t interested in it’s beauty.  All he cared about was not getting wet.

Gathering up the clothes in one arm and dangling the umbrella off the other, Taako snatched the silver candelabra he had brought in last night and headed out to the entry hall once again.  He could hear his own footsteps echoing through the halls as he made his way down the stairs to where he left his bag and cloak.  He returned the candle to the table he had taken it from the night before, and made his way back to the front door.

It was in his best interest to keep moving.  Word would spread, and someone would find him here.  If he wanted to have any hope of escaping the rumors, he had best leave soon.  And yet as Taako began to open up his pack to reorganize his sparse belongs to make room for stolen socks and shirts, he felt a tremor of hunger arise in his belly.

“Well, this place has to have a kitchen,” Taako mused, and he gathered up all his belongings before wandering back into the castle.

It didn’t take him long to find the kitchen, though it was pretty bare.  Taako knew he shouldn’t be surprised, after all it seemed the castle had been empty for a few years at least.  Still, he found a pan, and that was really all he needed.  He started up a fire on the stove with a flick of his wrist, and then dropped his pack onto the island in the center of the kitchen.

Taako’s specialty was transmutation magic: the art of changing one thing into another thing.  It was a necessity when you were living on the street stealing to get by.  Some days all you could find was spoiled meats or rotting fruit.  Transmutation magic could change those things into fresh ingredients again, or alter something that would otherwise be deadly to something that could be consumed.  These days Taako mostly used it to turn rations into something more appetizing.  With a flourish, he dropped a slab of dried jerky into the pan, and with a sizzle and a spark it transformed into a large slice of ham.

As he worked, Taako tried to think if he had done something during the show that may have resulted in so many people getting sick.  It didn’t _feel_ like he had messed up the recipe.  He knew that recipe inside and out.  No, the more he thought about it, the more he had to wonder if Sazed had been right.  If his _magic_ had been the cause.  He had never made anything harmful _intentionally_ , but could he have made something poisonous on _accident_?  He kept going over the ingredients, the tricks, repeating the prep work in his mind over and over until it felt like he had lived that night a thousand times, but he couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong.

“I don’t get it,” he muttered to himself, grabbing a plate from a cabinet and wiping it off on his sleeve.  

He tipped the pan to let the slab of ham slide out onto the plate, and then he came back to the center island where his stuff was.  For a moment he hesitated, unsure about eating his own cooking after what had happened, but another growl low in his belly made up his mind for him.  He pulled up a stool, and started to get to work on his breakfast.  As he chewed, he listened to the continuing sounds of the rain coming down, and he glanced at the red umbrella he had taken from upstairs.

“Well at least you’ll keep me a little more dry,” he sighed.

“That’s what _you_ think, buddy.”

Taako froze, mid-chew.  A voice, a woman’s voice, was echoing through the kitchen.  His eyes darted back and forth, but he was still completely alone.  He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and swallowed his mouthful of ham.

“Is someone there?” Taako called, trying to keep his voice level.

“I’m right here bubbale.”

Taako turned his head to face the voice, but he was merely met with an empty seat across from him at the counter.

“No no.  Down here.”

Glancing down, Taako saw something he almost could not believe.  The handle of the red umbrella was _talking_ to him.  It’s delicate long swan neck was unfurled, no longer curled into the shape of a handle, and it’s beak was parted, eyes looking directly at Taako.  When Taako’s gaze met with it, the bird seemed to smile.

“Hi there!”

“Holy shit!” Taako laughed nervously, pushing his plate away.  “Did my meat go bad?”

“Honestly, you’d think a wizard like you would have seen a magic umbrella before,” the swan replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“Lup!” a low voice hissed, “What are you doing?”

“I’m talking to the wizard, Barold, chill out,” the umbrella responded, casually twisting to look at Taako’s bag.  “You think I was gonna let him leave with you in there?”

Taako’s bag rustled on it’s own, and the flap keeping it closed fell open.  Frozen with fear, Taako watched as the contents of his pack pushed out, until finally the pair of jeans he had snatched from the dresser flopped out.  It lifted a leg on its own, as if held aloft by an invisible string.

“Shit… I hadn’t thought of that,” the jeans _said_ .  Taako wasn’t sure _how_ , as they did not have a mouth, but sure enough there was a voice coming from them.  It pulled itself along the counter towards Taako.  “Well, secret’s out I guess.”

“What the _fuck_ is going on here?” Taako said with a nervous chuckle.

“We’re cursed, ya dingus,” the umbrella replied as the talking pair of jeans scooted up beside it.

“Like… magic?” Taako asked.

“Yes, like magic,” the umbrella said flatly.  “You’re a _real_ good good wizard boy, huh?”

“Hey don’t insult me!” Taako cried.

“Yeah Lup, don’t be rude,” the jeans responded.

“Why not?” the umbrella retorted.

“Listen, we finally have another person in this castle for the first time in like _five years_ , and he’s a _wizard_ ,” the jeans explained.

“An idiot wizard based on this conversation so far,” the umbrella scoffed.

“But a wizard nonetheless,” the jeans replied.  “Maybe he can _help us_.”

“Wait wait wait,” Taako said, throwing up his hands.  “Are you people?  Am I talking to a pair of pants and an umbrella, or two people?  I need to know, cause honestly I’m a little freaked out.”

“Both,” answered the jeans.  “We were people, and we were put inside these-” the pants’ legs flailed wildly, and Taako could see the resemblance of a person gesturing with their arms.  “These _things_.”

“The name is Lup, by the way,” the swan-handled umbrella said, and she twisted her neck to point at the pants with her beak.  “That’s Barry.  I saw you turn that shitty jerky into ham.  You a transmutation wizard?”

“Uh, yeah,” Taako replied.

Lup glanced at Barry before continuing.  “Maybe you can help us.”

“I don’t…” Taako stuttered.  “I don’t think I can turn an umbrella into a person?”

“He’s right!” came a muffled child’s voice from over by the stove.

“Oh, Angus!” Lup cried.  “You in the cabinet?  Do me a favor, wizard man, and go fetch my boy.”  She gestured with her beak, pointing to the cabinet that Taako had gotten the dusty plate out of.

Unsure how to protest to this, Taako got up and walked over to the wooden cabinet suspended over the cooking counter.  When he opened it, he was greeted by the same set of china and silverware that he had seen before, but this time, they _moved_ .  Long stem goblets twisted to _look_ at him, forks and spoons hopped up and down, and a small teacup with delicate gold embellishments jumped forward.

“Hello sir!” the teacup chirped.  “A pleasure to meet you!”

“Have I gone crazy?” Taako asked as he stared at the talking teacup.  “Like, honestly, tell me straight up.  Did the stress of the last few days finally get to me?  Did I actually eat some poisoned food and I’m hallucinating with my dying breaths?  I’m just trying to get a read on this sitch, I’m talking to a baby trapped in a cup.”

“I’m not a baby!” the cup replied, “I may be a little boy, but I’m _very_ mature for my age.  And as far as I know, you aren’t crazy.  My name is Angus McDonald, what’s yours?”

“Uuuh… Taako?”

“Well Uuuh Taako, bring the kid over here,” Lup cried from the counter.

Tentatively, Taako held up a hand to the open cabinet, and the teacup hopped into it.  Taako carried him carefully over to the umbrella - no, Lup and Barry?  He was having trouble parsing that in his mind.

“What’s the deal, Ango?” Lup asked as Taako set the teacup boy down next to her.

“If Taako is a transmutation wizard, he’s not going to be able to change us back,” Angus replied.  “There’s not enough material components in an umbrella to make a person.  We’d need an Enchanter, or maybe a Sorcerer.”

“Shit,” Lup replied.  “Well it was worth a shot.”

“Is _everything_ in this castle actually a _person_ ?” Taako cried, glancing back at the goblets staring at him from the open cabinet.  “Is this plate a person?  Was that _bed_ a person?  Was I in someone’s mouth last night?”

“Only like a third of the things in here are people,” Lup explained casually.  “The rest of it is just regular furniture.  That plate is not a person.  Probably.”

“ _Probably?_ ”

“What are you _doing_ here anyway?” Lup cried.  “No one has been able to get into the castle for _years,_ we figured we would never see another person again! _”_

“Lup what are you-” a gruff old man’s voice cried out from behind Taako.

Taako whirled around to see a bunch of objects gathered at the kitchen door.  He felt himself get faint.  This couldn't be happening!  Magic was one thing, but this castle was definitely _cursed_ .  He saw among the gathered items the broken clock from his bedroom, and the candelabra he had carried up the stairs.  The clock, it turned out, was the one who was speaking.  “What are you _doing_ blowing our cover?”

“He’s a wizard, Merle!” Lup replied.  “He can help us!”

“We tried to use magic and look what happened!” Merle the clock responded, gesturing at himself with his one good filigree.  “This is dark shit we’re dealing with here.”

“He’s the first person who’s been able to find the castle,” Barry answered.  “Kalen’s spell said we would be totally forgotten.  There’s got to be something _special_ about him.”

“Whoa hold on, I don’t know about special,” Taako replied.

“This castle is cursed,” the candelabra said, a stern older woman’s voice to match the delicate woman of the base.  “Cursed to be forgotten by everyone.  Nobody should be able to get in here.  Nobody _has_ in half a decade.”

“Look I was just lost in the woods,” Taako explained.  “There was a storm, I was just running around blind.  I wasn’t looking for you guys, I didn’t even know there was a castle here.  I don’t even know where _here_ is.”

“Maybe he can help with Magnus!” Angus the teacup cried, hopping up and down on the counter excitedly.

“Wait who is Magnus?” Taako asked.

“I don’t know Ango,” Merle the clock said, rubbing his face.  “The big guy is really far gone.  I don’t know how he’ll take to someone new being in the castle.”

“Is this Magnus guy dangerous?” Taako asked.

“Quite the opposite,” Lup replied, and she hopped off the counter, balancing on the tip of the umbrella on the cold stone floor.  “He’s a big sweetheart.  Lucretia, I think seeing another person might help Magnus out.  Let him know that we haven’t really been forgotten.  Maybe it will give him _hope_.”

“We could use some hope,” the candelabra agreed.  “Last week he didn’t come out of his room at all, not even to eat.  I’m worried we’re going to lose him if this keeps up.”

“Can everyone please stop for one second!” Taako cried.  “What is even happening right now?  I just came in here to get out of the storm, I wasn’t trying to get wrapped up in some sort of whimsical adventure with talking furniture!”

“Does that mean you won’t help us?” Angus asked.

“Taako helps himself first,” Taako replied.  “I’m not here to save you guys from whatever shit you got yourselves into.  I’m just here to hide out and lay low until it’s safe for me to go back where I came from.”

“What are you hiding _from_?” Lup asked.

“None of your business,” Taako snapped in reply.

“It doesn’t matter,” Barry sighed.  “It’s not like we can _make_ him stay.  We’re _things_.  He can pick us up and put us away.  Just let the guy do what he wants.”

“Thank you Barold,” Taako answered.  “Y’all are tiny.  I could chuck you out the window if I wanted to.  No talking saucepan or enchanted broom is going to rope me into some fantastical bullshit without my consent.  I’m an autonomous elf.”

“Does that mean you’re going to leave?” Merle asked.

“Fuck no,” Taako replied.  “I told you, I’m hiding out.  A castle nobody can find sounds like a great place to kick it until it’s safe.  Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go lock myself in a room with no talking furniture, and just _chill._ ”  With that, Taako walked out of the kitchen as fast as he could.  Lup hopped after him, bouncing on the point of the umbrella.

“Taako if you’re _stay_ here,” Lup cried after him, “you need to meet Magnus.  He might not like it if he finds you without being introduced.”

“I thought you said he was a sweetheart?” Taako replied, not looking back as he hurried away from the talking umbrella.

Lup was persistent, and continued to chase him.  “No, he is, he really is,” Lup replied, “But I think it’s fair to warn you.  He’s a little… intimidating.”

“What, is he a talking _bureau_ or something?” Taako laughed.  “I think I can handle whatever weirdness this guy is packing at this point.”  He quickly turned down a hallway, hoping to lose Lup, but she simply continued after him.

“It’s not like that, he’s not like us!” Lup cried.  “His curse is different, he’s-”

Taako rounded a corner and collided with something large, solid, and hairy.  The impact left him unsteady on his feet, and Taako tumbled backwards onto the floor, just barely missing dashing his head against the flagstone.  But when he looked up, he wondered if maybe he _had_ hit his head.  He felt his heart seize in his chest, and a gasp escaped his lips.

Standing before him was… well, a _monster._

It was a massive creature, covered in thick fur, almost two heads taller than Taako as it stood on its hind legs.  It’s front legs were long, ending in massive paws with sharp, dark claws, and its hind legs were short, almost comically so in comparison.  It dragged behind it a massive tail, bushy and full, that swept the floor behind it like a broom.  It’s pelt was black with a brown undercoat, and as Taako stared at the creature he marveled that it was somewhere between a bear and a wolf, with an elongated snout and a round face, but the shoulders were closer to a man’s than any four legged animal would be.  Two sharp fangs jutted up from the creature’s mouth, and a pair of elaborate antlers grew heavy and thick out of its head.  Dark hair, dirty and unkempt, framed it’s face, and Taako looked into the creature’s eyes to find them nothing more than dark pools.  

“Oh, Magnus!” Lup said as she finally caught up.  “Good to see you out of your room!  Can you believe it?  Someone _found_ the castle!  Isn’t that great news?”

Taako nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he stared from his place on the floor.  The monster carefully observed him with a stoic expression, unmoving.  If Taako’s arrival was good news, he certainly didn’t show it.  The creature huffed a breath out through his exposed fangs, and it had the edge of a feral growl in it.  So _this_ was Magnus.  Lup had said there was something different about him, but he hadn’t expected _this_.  

She probably should have clarified that he was _a literal fucking beast_.


	3. A Monster Who Wouldn't Hurt Anyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard has come face to face with the Beast of the castle, but this creature is more concerned about the Wizard's safety than anything else. The Wizard must convince the Beast to let him stay.

He felt his heart seize in his chest as the creature stared him down, it’s dark eyes staring a hole through him as he scrambled to get to his feet.  But as Taako rose to his knees, he found his face met with an extended massive paw.  Taako looked up into the creature’s eyes, which softened, and the beast opened its mouth to speak.

“A-Are you okay?”

His voice was soft, gravelly, but not at all matching the huge hulking body it was coming from.   He seemed to be struggling around the fangs, like he wasn’t much used to talking with them, and it made his words careful and slow as he chose them.  Taako couldn’t explain it, but even though this beast was certainly  _ not _ friendly looking, something about him felt warm and inviting.  He felt... kind, and Taako couldn’t help but see that kindness in his eyes.

On a huge hulking monster like this, it was kinda… cute?

“Y-yeah!” Taako cried, trying to take it all in.  “Never better!”

“That’s good,” the beast replied slowly, the shock of their collision wearing off.  Taako took the beast’s paw in hand, and the creature helped him to his feet.  Taako’s hand was dwarfed by the massive paw, he almost couldn’t believe how big it was.  How big this… thing was.  And yet, he felt calm.  Safe.  He didn’t know why, but he believed this creature wouldn’t hurt him.

“Magnus, this is Taako,” Lup said, hopping up beside the beast.  “He’s a wizard.”

Magnus frowned, or at least Taako thought it was a frown.  The way his mouth curled around the fangs made it difficult to tell.

“You… you shouldn’t be here,” Magnus growled, his heavy brow furrowing as he crossed his paws in front of his chest.  “It’s not safe.”

“Magnus, maybe he can help,” Lup insisted, flopping into the beast’s haunch in a way that reminded Taako of when people elbow a friend when telling a joke.

“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Magnus warned, looking over at Lup.  “There have been too many.”

“Who’s been hurt?” Taako asked nervously, looking at Magnus’ massive claws, jagged teeth, and dangerous looking antlers.

“All of us…” Magnus replied cryptically.  “All of them have been.  Anyone… Anyone who gets close to me.”

“Magnus, you’re being ridiculous,” Lup replied, looking to Taako as she hopped between the elf and the monster.  “He’s worried you’ll be cursed if you stay here, but you’ve already spent the night and you haven’t been transformed.”  

“Everyone  _ else _ was cursed, why would he be different?” Magnus answered.

She twisted her neck to look back at Magnus in a way that would be impossible for a real swan, but as an unfeeling umbrella handle it was not that big a deal.  “Magnus, Barry and I think the curse has been weakened.  Taako isn’t being affected by it, he spent the night here!  If he was going to change he would have done it by now.  He probably won’t be transformed like we were.”

“That was a possibility?” Taako cried, color draining from his face. “Nobody warned me about  _ that _ .  Would have been nice to know I could have woken up as an ashtray or something.”

“I mean, we didn’t know  _ for sure _ ,” Lup explained as she glanced back at Taako.  “We were  _ pretty _ sure you wouldn’t.  Reasonably sure.  I was at least 75% sure.  Barry was more like 65%.”

Magnus shook his head, and the shaggy dark hair framing his face shook with him.  “It’s too dangerous.  I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“My dude I appreciate the concern, but you’re not my mother,” Taako huffed.  “You can’t talk like I’m not here, Taako is going to do what he wants.”

Magnus lifted his chin, making him seem even more overpowering and tall.  He was  _ massive _ , and staring down at Taako over his long and fearsome snout.  “Aren’t you scared?”

“Oh, terrified,” Taako laughed, tucking some hair behind his long elven ear.  “Have you seen this place, there’s talking furniture everywhere!”

At that the beast bared his teeth, and Taako was fairly certain it was an attempt at a smile because it spread up into his eyes.  He grinned back, and Magnus quickly hid his smile away again.

“I don’t know why you would want to stay in a place like this,” Magnus growled, and Taako marveled at the way his voice balanced between something human and something feral.  “But I suppose you’re right.  I can’t  _ make _ you leave.”

Taako looked the creature up and down.  This hulking beast  _ could _ make him leave, it would be very easy for someone his size, but Taako wasn’t going to argue that point.  He watched as Magnus turned his back to Taako and headed back down the hallway.  Taako wasn’t certain if he should follow, so he looked to Lup, who gave him the best shrug she could manage with no shoulders.  When Taako looked back, Magnus had to stooped to all fours in order to get his antlers through the doorway, dragging his long tail behind him.  With a soft swish of fur against stone, Magnus had disappeared into the room, and was gone.

“That went… okay,” Lup sighed.

Taako released a breath he did not know he was holding, and whipped around to look at the talking umbrella.

“Jeezy creezy, you could have told me he was a big  _ bear monster _ !” Taako cried.  “What the  _ hell _ happened to all of you?”

“Uh, we’re cursed?” Lup replied, as if that answered everything.  “Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”

She hopped past Taako, giving him a look as she went by, and after a moment of deliberation Taako decided he had no reason not to follow her.  She was headed back towards the entryway it seemed, and Taako could use some help getting back there.

“We don’t have much to offer up in terms of food,” Lup explained, each hop she took tapping out a beat against the flagstone floor.  “Everything spoiled a long time ago, and Magnus is the only one here who can eat.  He does eat though, he goes hunting out in the forest once or twice a week.  Hope you like venison and rabbit.”

“Does he cook it?” Taako asked.

“He’s a bear monster,” Lup answered.  “Pretty sure he eats it raw.”

“Oh fuck no that shit stops now,” Taako scoffed.  “I will  _ not _ eat uncooked meat, that shit is for  _ animals _ .”

“I mean…. bear monster,” Lup laughed.

“Who was a  _ person _ at some point?” Taako scoffed.  “No wonder he scares people, y’all have been letting him act like an animal.  Good thing I know how to cook.  Some home cooked food might do that monster boy some good.”

“I’m really glad he was able to talk to you,” Lup continued.  “We’ve been in here alone for so long… I don’t think we’ve seen another  _ person _ in… well in like five years.”

Taako stopped in his tracks.  “You all have been like this for  _ five years _ ?”

“Yeah give or take,” Lup replied.  “Magnus was transformed the longest though, and it’s been the hardest for him.  He thinks that nobody really knows what he’s going through.  I mean, I guess in a way he’s right.”

“Yeah why is he a manimal and y’all are living furniture?” Taako asked, resuming his pace behind Lup.

“It’s… it’s complicated,” Lup sighed.  “And I’m not really the one to tell you it.  Let’s just say... he was cursed first, and then we were cursed for trying to help him.”

Taako frowned at the sudden hesitance.  “It’s cool, you don’t  _ have _ to tell me your tragic backstory,” Taako huffed.  “Taako’s probably better off not knowing, right?”

Lup ignored him.  “Anyway, Magnus sometimes gets a little… feral when he’s been alone too long,” Lup continued.  “We try to talk to him, but he does his best to avoid us.  I think having you here is going to remind him what being human was like.”

“I ain’t human,” Taako laughed.

“No… but you’re alive,” Lup answered.  “And he hasn’t felt alive since the day all this happened to him.”

She showed him around the bottom floor, to the various sitting rooms with dusty furniture, the massive dining room with untouched place settings, the cavernous ballroom hung with cobwebs, and what would have been a very luxurious bathroom were it not under a layer of dirt.  Taako constantly found himself marveling at how  _ big _ the castle was.  He was also shocked that every time they passed a window, the rain was still coming down as hard as it had been the day before.  

Along the way Lup pointed out various residents of the castle: these two were a pair of bookends, that guy is a music box, this lady is a large ornate vase, and on and on and on.  Taako couldn’t keep all their names straight, and he certainly wasn’t going to remember  _ which _ specific chair was a living person out of the hundreds in this castle.  As they entered one of the many sitting rooms, Taako was greeted by the clock and candelabra from earlier, now sitting atop a coffee table by the fireplace.

“What did the big guy say?” the clock asked, hopping to the edge of the table as Lup entered.

“He said he couldn’t  _ make _ Taako leave,” Lup answered.  “Which is probably as good as we could hope.  Taako, I know I’ve been throwing a lot of names at you, but this is Merle, and this is Lucretia.  If you’ve got questions about anything going on in the castle, you’ll want to ask them.”

“First question,” Taako said, clapping his hands together as he crouched next to the coffee table so that he’d be eye level with the talking knick knacks because  _ that was just how his life was going right now _ .  “How do I get rid of all the talking furniture in my room.”

“Oh, well, we’ve already asked everyone to stay out of there,” Lucretia answered.  “Except…  Well,  _ Davenport _ is still in there, and we were hoping you’d let him stay.”

“Which one is he?” Taako asked, going through the furniture in his head.

“He’s the hand mirror on the vanity,” Merle sighed.  “He can’t… he won’t bother you much.  He’s very quiet, doesn’t say much these days.”

The way he said it was very solemn, like talking about an ill loved one.  Taako frowned.  “Why, what’s wrong with him?”

“Our curse was meant to turn us into furniture, but we’re all still transforming little by little every day” Lucretia explained.  “It is only complete when we finally stop feeling anything at all.  If you have hope, it’s easier to fight but… Davenport has almost completely forgotten what it was like to be alive.”

Taako felt a twang of pity in his chest.  “So... he’s just a hunk of junk now?”

“No, I  _ know _ Davenport is in there!” Merle cried.  “He still talks... okay mostly he just  _ copies _ people around him.  But he’s listening!  I’m worried that moving him might upset him more, make him feel even more like an object being displaced so… We want him to stay if that’s alright.”

There wasn’t much room for a clock face to show emotion, but Taako could feel how concerned Merle was for his friend.  It felt weird, thinking about a clock being worried about a mirror, but again, this is what his life was now.

“I mean if you’re going to guilt me into it,” Taako sighed.  “How am I supposed to say no to ‘he might permanently turn into a mirror if you throw him out’, you know?”

“He’s a good guy,” Merle answered firmly, and Taako caught a hint of defensiveness in the old clock’s voice.  “I wish we could do more for him but this is something at least.  Thanks.”

“So is there anything else I should know about living in this castle?” Taako asked, looking to Lucretia.  “Any secret passages or trapdoors or whatever?”

“No no, it’s a pretty normal castle.  Nothing too out of the ordinary.  You should stay out of Magnus’ wing though,” Lucretia warned.  “Otherwise you’re free to wander.  No one else here will be bothered by it.”

“He has a  _ wing _ ?” Taako asked.  “Where is it?

“East end of the castle, the upper floors and high tower especially,” Lucretia explained.  “You’ll know you’re getting close to it when you see all damaged furniture.”

“ _ Holy shit _ , not one of you guys I hope,” Taako cried.

“Magnus would never hurt anyone on purpose!” Lucretia cried.

“Easy for you to say,” Merle groused.  “He didn’t  _ break _ you.”

“That was an  _ accident _ Merle, and you know it,” huffed Lup, lifting her head over the edge of the table to look at Merle.  “Magnus didn’t mean it, he was  _ trying _ to help.”

“Oh yeah he was  _ real _ helpful, knocking me off the table and  _ snapping my arm off _ ,” Merle grumbled as he gestured at his missing filigree.

“I’m really getting mixed messages on if this guy is dangerous or not,” Taako said.

“He’s  _ not _ dangerous,” Lucretia insisted.  “He is a kind young man trapped in a body he has difficulty controlling.  Sometimes he has… trouble with using things meant for human hands.”

“He tries to stay away from us,” Lup continued.  “After he broke Merle, he didn’t want to break anyone else.  So he usually stays in the east wing, upstairs because it’s hard for us to get up there.  He doesn’t want anyone to go near him.”

“Well I get that,” Taako said.  “But he’s not exactly going to be breaking Taako any time soon.  I’m not made of wood.”

“Maybe for now just… don’t push it,” Lucretia asked.  “I think it’s better if he comes to you rather than us trying to force you on him.”

“Yeah, maybe he’ll want to come out more knowing that you’re here,” Lup cried.  “That will be good.”

“Okay okay but we’re all clear that I’m  _ not _ staying here to help you guys,” Taako insisted.  “Taako is here to lie low.  If I end up helping you guys, it’s because it helps  _ me _ .”

After Lup showed him around upstairs, leaving the others due to their slowness at climbing, Taako made his way back to the guest bedroom he had slept in the night before.  Entering the room, he noticed most of the furniture was still there.  The chair at the vanity was gone, and a few of the items on it had left as well, but the bed and piano were still there, along with the dresser.

And on the vanity the old mirror named Davenport sat.  Taako picked it up and looked it over.

“So… you can hear me, huh?” Taako said quietly, but there was no response.  “It’s cool, Merle told me you weren’t much of a talker.  Taako’s not much of a listener, so we’re a good match.”

At that, he turned the mirror over in his hands to see his reflection.  It felt easier to talk to it when it had a face, even if that face was his own.

“I guess we’re gonna be roommates, huh Davenport?”

Taako felt the mirror stir in his hand, and quietly he heard a small voice repeat, “Davenport?  Davenport.”

It was unnerving, this tiny voice copying his tone and cadence, but Taako swallowed down his nerves.  It was a mirror, it couldn’t hurt him.  “Yeah, you’re Davenport, I’m Taako.”

“Davenport.”

Taako sighed, gesturing to himself with his free hand.  “No, Taako.   _ Taah-koh _ .”

“Davenport.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Yeah good job buddy.”

Taako took the mirror and lay on the bed with it, looking into his reflection as he thought.  There was so much to take in.  The cursed folks in the castle, the monster Magnus… and he had almost forgot in all the panic, the folks from the next town over.  The people he had... killed.  He had to admit that, right?  People had died, and he was hiding from the consequences.  

Still, what was he supposed to do, go to jail for something that was an accident?

“It  _ sucks, _ your friends think I’m going to be able to help you guys,” Taako muttered.  “I’m a pretty shitty person, why are they putting so much trust in me?  I don’t help anyone but myself.”

“Davenport,” the mirror replied.

“Nah, not even you,” Taako sighed.  “Merle guilted me into letting you stay.  But I guess it’ll be nice to have someone to talk to who won’t blab.”

The mirror didn’t respond, so Taako rolled over and placed Davenport down on the nightstand before flopping back down on the bed and staring at the ceiling above him.  What was he going to do now?  He couldn’t leave, the authorities would be looking for him.  But if he stayed, he’d get wrapped up in these people’s  _ drama _ , and he was not equipped to deal with that.  

Still, the way that Magnus had looked with him with kind eyes, the waver in Merle’s voice while talking about Davenport, the passion Lup had talking about Taako and how he could  _ help _ .  Did he want to help these people?  Could he?  With a sigh, he rolled over and watched the rain fall outside, realizing that he basically had  _ trapped _ himself in this castle, one way or another.

“...  _ Fuck. _ ”


	4. The Quiet Creeping Guilt and Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard spends a week in the Beast's castle, and slowly starts to unravel the mystery behind the residents. But as he learns more, he is not certain he wants to learn the truth.

Taako did not see Magnus again over the next few days, and he suspected that was intentional.

There was not a whole lot to do, so Taako had gotten into a kind of routine of waking up, making breakfast, wandering the castle, having lunch, wandering some more, and having dinner before wandering back to his room and going to bed.  The residents of the castle were very friendly, and he often found himself being caught off guard by a talking chair or wall sconce as he wandered. But he did not see the massive beast again.

Taako was mildly impressed that someone so big was so good at hiding.

“I wouldn’t take it personally,” Lucretia said to him one day as he remarked on the absence of the creature.  “He’s very sweet, but he has trouble opening up to people.”

“Relatable,” Taako laughed.

Still, it was a little unsettling.  He _knew_ Magnus was around, and he had the feeling he was a lot closer than his lack of appearance made it seem.  He was pretty sure he was catching glimpses of him out of the corner of his eye. And that wasn’t all. Taako had woken up the second day to find his clothes folded again and his boots tucked under the piano bench.  When he asked Lup about it, she had said that none of them would be able to fold clothes without hands, so he looked and saw that there was a few brown wiry hairs on his clothes.

It was _possible_ he just picked it up from walking around in this place… but Taako had a feeling that Magnus had been checking in on him in the night.  He might have even come to see him the very first night, before they had been introduced.

He didn’t know what to think about that.

There were things that Taako had started to take in about the castle that he had not noticed the first day.  For one, that rainstorm outside still hadn’t stopped or even let up for a moment. There was a constant torrent of water pouring outside of every door and window, and Taako wondered if he had ever seen so much rain in his entire life.  The residents of the castle did not seem to find it unusual though. Taako wondered if the sun ever shined on this bleak castle.

Another thing he had noticed was that even though they lived in this castle, none of the residents really cared for the way the castle was laid out and decorated.  Taako often heard discussion as he walked around the castle, a chair complaining about a placement of a table, a dish grousing about the layout of a room.

“You know if you guys didn’t like the castle’s decor you could always change it,” Taako mentioned one morning to a frustrated washbasin fretting about some stairs that it was having some trouble navigating.

“ _We_ didn’t have a choice,” the basin replied, and Taako wasn’t really sure how to interpret that.

“Did you guys not live here?” Taako asked Merle when he saw him later.  “You guys act like you didn’t have the power to do anything different.”

“Hell no we didn’t live here!” Merle answered as if he was offended, and it took Taako by surprise.  “If it were up to us this castle wouldn’t even _be_ here!  Lord Kalen was the one who lived here.  He’s the one with the terrible taste in furniture.”

Taako thought about asking who Lord Kalen was, but that was stumbling dangerously close to “giving a shit” about these people, and he did not want to do that.  So he did his best to pass the days with minimal questions, waiting out the rain and the guilt that had followed him.

On his fifth night in the castle, Taako found himself transmuting his last ration of jerky into a meal.  The residents of the kitchen had showed him which pots and pans were not enchanted, and he had set them aside so he would not confuse them with someone who was alive.  This had made his cooking experience a lot more enjoyable, and Taako was actually finding that having a full kitchen to work with was very nice. It would be nicer if he had anything besides dried meat to work with, but it was something.

“Could really go for some veggies though,” he muttered to himself as he fried the transformed meat in the pan.  He looked over at Lup, who was laying on the island in the kitchen much like she had been that first morning he had cooked here, while Barry sat folded up next to her.  “No chance there’s some overgrown potato field out in the town, is there?”

“I don’t know?” Lup replied, tilting her head.  “Maybe? I can’t really remember what’s out there.”

“Really?” Taako laughed.

“We haven’t been outside since we were transformed,” Barry said, shrugging his denim legs like shoulders.

“You haven’t even _tried_ to leave and get help?” Taako asked.

“The castle is surrounded by an empty city, and from there it’s surrounded by a dense forest,” Barry explained.  “You really think a pair of jeans and an umbrella would be able to get anywhere out there?”

“Especially in this weather,” Lup agreed.

“You’re an umbrella?” Taako replied.  “A little rain isn’t going to hurt you.  Besides, it has to stop eventually, right?”

“It hasn’t stopped raining since the day we were cursed,” Barry sighed.  “And we’re pretty sure the rain is what started the curse to begin with.”

“Holy shit it’s been raining for _five years_?” Taako cried, turning his meat over in the pan.  “That’s fucking _insane_ , it’s not raining in the next town over!”

“Yeah this rain is _our_ rain,” Lup insisted.  “It only rains here, and it never stops.  It’s magic of some sort, and given our track record it’s probably not the good kind.  Up until you showed up we thought the _rain_ was the reason nobody ever found us.”

“I walked in it just fine though?” mused Taako.  “I wonder why that was?”

“Who knows?” Barry answered.  “I’m still not sure you haven’t been cursed too.”

“I don’t recall being turned into a talking pair of slacks,” Taako hummed in annoyance.

“Maybe not,” Barry said.  “But you sure seem to be trapped here like the rest of us.”

Still, it surprised Taako to learn that not a single resident of the castle had tried to leave it except Magnus, who went out to hunt for his food once or twice a week.  Everyone he talked to had a similar response as Lup… how could a piece of furniture make it to safety in a rainstorm like that? Taako did admit he had wandered in the forest for a lot longer than it seemed like he should have, but he was certain that there had to be a town somewhere close that even a small clock or candle could hop to with enough gumption.

Taako was also getting sick of all the dust settled onto the non-living furniture of the castle.

“I get it, none of you use it and the furball is his own walking dust rag,” Taako scoffed as he brushed off a place in the dining room to set down his newly cooked meal.  “But maybe it wouldn’t be so fucking depressing in here if y’all cleaned up once and awhile.”

“Nobody wants to clean this damn place ever again,” Merle explained.  “We were _forced_ to do that when we were alive.  We aren’t about to keep it up now.”

“No, he’s right Merle,” Lucretia sighed.  “Maybe we _should_ clean up around here.  It will help us keep in touch with our former lives.”

“I ain’t cleaning up after any messes Magnus made,” Merle huffed.  “He can do those himself.”

“No but… Maybe we could help out with some cleaning of the rooms,” she reasoned.  “There’s the baths, and the main parlor… If we want to hold onto our lives we should really be doing more to act like living beings and not passive furniture.”

“Not that I care or anything,” Taako mused as he cut up his slab of ham, “but what _did_ you guys do before you were cursed?”

“You went through an empty village to get here, right?” Lucretia answered.  “Those were our homes, before this happened. After we were transformed it became much safer to stay in the castle than to try to go back out to them.”

“Hachi machi,” Taako huffed.  “What about the big guy? He live in the village too?”

“We… we don’t actually know much about where Magnus is from,” Merle admitted.  “He just showed up one day with Julia and asked to help.”

“Wait back up, who is Julia?” Taako cried, almost choking on the bite of ham he was chewing.  “Where is _she_ then?  Were they friends?  Why isn’t she talking some sense into him?”

Lucretia and Merle nervously looked at each other, then back to Taako.

“She... died,” Lucretia finally said.  “Fell ill and died a week later. Right after we were cursed.”

Taako could immediately sense he had stepped into a hornets’ nest and tried to backpedal his way out of it.

“I, ugh, I don’t actually need to know anything about it, alright?” he stammered.  “That shit seems real personal and I don’t want to become y’all’s sounding board for personal crap.”

Lucretia actually laughed at Taako’s response.

“No… no of course you don’t,” she answered.

Still, that night Taako found himself talking to Davenport about it anyway.

“I mean… this is some pretty fucked up business you got yourselves into,” Taako sighed as he flopped onto the bed, the mirror in his hand held high above his head.  He had taken to talking to Davenport every night just as a way to de-stress. The mirror hadn’t been able to say anything beyond his own name, but Taako appreciated having someone to listen to him that couldn’t talk back.  “I get it, this is some bad magic. But I’m in a bad way too. I’ve got my own problems to deal with.”

“Davenport!” the mirror cried sternly.

“No, no, I’m not selfish,” Taako continued, “but if I don’t take care of myself who will?  I’ve been looking out for number one my whole life, and it has _not_ been easy.”

“Davenport.”

“I just… I feel like everyone hopes I can do something for you guys,” Taako sighed.  “But that’s not me. That’s not me at all. I’m only here because I _have_ to be.”

“Can’t help but overhear,” came a voice from the hallway, and Taako almost dropped Davenport on his face in surprise.  He sat up to see Lup’s handle peeking through a small crack in the door.

“Shit Lup maybe knock sometime?” Taako huffed.

“Yeah whatever I’ll do that with my _hands_ ,” Lup sniped back.  “Listen, Barry and I have been talking about what you said... about leaving this place.  I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

“Shoot I guess,” Taako replied.

“Well, I don’t think we’d get very far if we tried to leave,” Lup explained.  “But you… you have _legs_.  You could carry one of us to a town and explain what happened, and then maybe we could get someone who could help us!”

“Couldn’t you ask Magnus to do it?” Taako asked.

“He’s not exactly the most welcoming sight,” Lup answered.  “I think he’d get shot on sight if we tried to go into town with him.”

“You _did_ just overhear the part where I said helping you guys is really not my deal,” Taako scoffed.  “Or maybe when I said it yesterday. Or the day before. It’s _not_ in my best interest to leave this castle.  I’m hiding out from-” He stopped himself before he could say anything more.  Lup seemed to have the uncanny ability to get him talking about himself. He hated that.

“Did you steal something?” Lup laughed.

“No!” Taako cried, indignant at the suggestion.  

“Kill someone?”

“No Lup!” Taako barked, his voice cracking.  “And I’m _not_ going to tell you so stop asking!”

“Well, _I_ think you’re not as much of a stone cold bitch as you say you are,” Lup said.  “And I’m not saying you _have_ to, but we would make it up to you.  Most of us were pretty powerful magic users before we were transformed.  If you need protecting, we’d be happy to do it after we’re changed back.”

“Thanks, but Taako’s good right here.”

“Whatever,” Lup groaned, ducking her head back out of the room.  “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

Taako tucked himself into bed once again, listening to the rain for the fifth night in a row, but he was having trouble falling asleep this time.  He tossed and turned in bed, trying to get comfortable, before finally deciding to give up and go for a walk.

He was only wearing his shirt, and the castle was a little cold, but he figured he was already up anyway so a little cold wouldn’t hurt him.  He grabbed a blanket off the bed to put over his shoulders, and then padded out into the hallway to wander.

One other thing Taako had learned over the past week was it was _very_ easy to get lost in this place.

There were a lot of similar rooms and the hallways provided very little in the way of landmarks because of their sparse decoration.  Taako was pretty sure he had walked past the same sitting room three times in just this one hallway. Eventually Taako found himself wandering past the staircase in the main entryway.  

Just as he was about to duck into another hallway, he heard the front door of the castle creak open.  Taako pressed himself into an alcove where he could see the entrance without being seen, but he was greeted by the sight of a wet and hairy mess stomping through the door.  There were bits of leaves and other foliage stuck in his antlers and in his fur and mud caking his paws. He was carrying something in his mouth, which he dropped onto the floor as he sat up on his haunches.  It wasn’t an animal, but Taako wasn’t sure _what_ it was.  It looked like a bundle of some sort.

“Merle!” Magnus shouted.  “Merle come here, I need your help with something!”

When Merle didn’t immediately appear, Magnus gathered up whatever he had brought into his paws, and went off into the castle to find him, a trail of water and mud dripping onto the stone floor as he went.

Weird.

Taako’s curiosity got the best of him, and he quietly descended the stairs to follow him.  He was easy enough to follow this time, since he was leaving large wet footprints in his wake.  Usually the beast was much more stealthy.

“Merle, you used to work with plants,” Magnus said, his big voice echoing through the stone hallways.  “Are any of these poisonous?”

Taako stopped in his tracks.

This was a troubling question to be asking, and Taako felt something cold slip down his spine.

He had got the feeling that Magnus wasn’t too happy with Taako’s insistence he stay, but he had been pretty sure he could still trust the guy.  Then again, it was weird how he was creeping around Taako and coming into his room while he slept. But _then again_ … Everyone insisted Magnus was a really nice guy, and he had no real evidence to prove otherwise.  Still, the incident at his last show made him nervous about the idea of _poison_ being discussed.

And yet… Taako’s mind flashed to what he had heard about Julia.   _She fell ill, and died a week later_.  Could she have been...?

Taako caught wind of a slight muttering which he was sure was Merle, and he carefully crept towards the sound of the clock talking, just barely unable to make out what he was saying.

“No… no not for me… they’re for him,” Magnus growled, and Taako felt his heart freeze.

Shit.

Almost slipping on the pooling water on the floor, Taako scrambled to run back to his room as fast as he could, dropping his blanket as he did.  When he reached the staircase, he saw Lup hopping through the entryway, and he motioned to her.

“Hey, Lup?” he hissed, snatching her up as she got close.  “You wanted to try leaving? Well I’m leaving. Right now.”

“Whoa really?” Lup answered, a little shocked by the sudden reversal.  “What changed your mind?”

“Nothing,” Taako lied as he bounded up the steps two at a time.  “I just don’t want to stay here anymore. Getting… stir crazy, you know?”

“Oh trust me, I know,” Lup laughed, but she sounded a little nervous.

Within twenty minutes, Taako had gotten dressed and packed up his bag, taking a non-living coat he found in the dresser and a warmer pair of leggings.  He went to grab his blanket, but realized he had dropped it somewhere downstairs, and didn’t want to go and get it now. Magnus had probably heard him running back to his room.

Grabbing Lup and his bag, Taako rushed downstairs to the front door.  Sure enough, Magnus was there, holding the blanket Taako had dropped.

“Taako?” Magnus asked, sounding concerned and confused all at once.  He had puppy dog eyes, which was weird on a monster like him. “What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?  I’m leaving,” Taako snapped, throwing his pack over his shoulder and popping Lup’s canopy open.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Lup said, and Taako wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a warning, but he didn’t care.  He threw his cloak on.

“Listen, I’m not about to hang around in this place when I know I’m not wanted,” Taako answered, grabbing the handle of the door.  “Thanks for the bed, I’ll get out of your hair now, big guy.”

“Taako, you haven’t-”

Taako cut him off with a raise of his hand.  “It’s been real, but I’m out. I’m _not_ going to end up like _Julia_.”

Magnus’ jaw dropped.  “Taako wait!” he cried, and Taako didn’t know how to read the look on his face but he wasn’t about to start caring now.  He flung open the door, and dashed out into the rain, Lup clutched tightly in his hands.


	5. Cold and Painful Faults

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard tries to escape his prison and return to civilization, but discovers that the cursed forest has one more trick left to keep him there.

The rain was even more chilling than Taako remembered it, the sky even darker.  He was grateful for the extra coat he had grabbed, but it still wasn’t enough to fully keep out the rain.  Lup caught most of it, but it still soaked into his boots. Still, he ran as fast as he could, away from the castle.

Away from the beast.

“Who told you about Julia?” Lup cried as they slammed into the iron gate and forced it back open.  Taako ran like mad through the dark, rain splattering against Lup’s canopy.

“Who the fuck cares?” Taako cried back as they ran through the empty city streets.  “I’m taking us both far away from there! Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I mean, I’m grateful!” Lup answered.  “But you- I don’t think you have the whole story about Magnus and Julia!”

Taako leaped over a large pool of water, the houses rushing past him as they made their way toward the treeline.

“She’s dead, he’s dangerous,” Taako snapped.  “That’s all the information I need.”

Taako lowered Lup as they broke into the trees so she would not get snagged and broken on the low-hanging branches.  Once they were under their cover, the sky seemed even darker than before.

Taako couldn’t remember what direction the town he and Sazed had stayed in was, but he knew he didn’t have a lot of options.  Jail was preferable to being killed, at least. He weaved through the trees, stomping through puddles and kicking up piles of leaves as he went.

“Magnus is a good person,” Lup insisted.  “Whatever you think you know about him, you’re wrong.”

“Do you want to get out of that place or not?” Taako cried.  “Just shut up and let me get you to town.”

He could feel Lup stiffen in his hands at his curtness, but he wasn’t about to apologize to a talking umbrella.  She fell silent, and Taako resumed his trek through the woods.

Just as it had been the week before, the forest proved impossible to navigate.  Taako tried to push forward through the dark and rain, but felt like he wasn’t making any progress at all.  In fact he was reasonably certain he was going in circles, because he kept seeing a tree with a burned out split down the middle, as though it had been struck by lightning.  It was  _ possible _ there were multiple trees that had been struck in this forest… but what were the odds?

He wasn’t sure how long he had been running before his feet started to go numb from the cold, but he was certain it was hours and there was still no sign of the village.  If Lup was right, the rain would stop when they were far enough away from the castle, but there seemed to be no end of it in sight. Suddenly, Lup stirred in Taako’s hands.

“Taako…” she muttered, strangely quiet as though she was exhausted.  “We have to go back. We made a mistake.”

“I’m not going back now,” Taako insisted.  “We’ve gotta be close by now. Just be patient.”

But after passing the lightning struck tree for the sixteenth time, Taako began to wonder if she was right.

Suddenly, Taako felt his numb and dragging feet catch on something, and he tumbled to the ground as a sharp pain shot up his leg.  Slamming into the mud, he dropped Lup and curled up around himself, trying to pull his throbbing leg up to him.

“Fuck!” he screamed, another bolt of pain shooting through him as his foot came free from the root it had been caught on.  He frantically looked around to try and spot the bright red umbrella, but it was so dark he could barely see his hand in front of his face.  “Lup! Lup I can’t see you, where are you?”

She did not respond, or at least Taako couldn’t hear her if she did.

“Lup I… I think I twisted my ankle,” Taako muttered, trying and failing to push himself up in the thick wet mud.  His hand slipped, and he fell once again into the mud, a mouthful of wet dirt forcing its way in. “This isn’t funny Lup!” Taako spat through the mud.  “Please come here and help me out! I could use you as a cane or something,  _ fuck _ I don’t know.”

But Lup did not say anything, and Taako felt himself growing numb as the rain continued to soak his entire body.  He felt a shiver pass over him.

“Lup?  You okay?  Can you hear me?”

But the rain drowned out any other sound, and Taako found himself shaking for fear that he was actually truly alone.  He could feel something passing over him, a faintness that he knew meant he was going to lose consciousness if he didn’t warm up soon.

“Fuck, I’m sorry!” he cried, unsure if she could hear him too.  “I fuck everything up. I’m a fucking  _ mess _ .”

He dragged himself to the nearest tree, and curled up into its trunk to try and shield himself a little more from the rain, to stay awake just a moment longer.  He couldn’t feel his foot anymore, and he carefully pulled his leg up to his chest. It was too dark to even see his injury. Too dark to do anything except close his eyes and wait.

Maybe he was going to die out here.

Maybe... that’s what he deserved.

Suddenly, Taako heard something crashing through the underbrush, stumbling in the darkness.  His eyes flew open, looking around in vain. He knew he wouldn’t see what it was, but the feeling his stomach tighten as the sounds grew closer and closer kept his eyes wide with fear.  A snap of branches. Heavy footsteps. Raspy wheezing pants of breath. Taako took in a sharp gasp, feeling a pain in his chest that he knew either to be fear or hypothermia setting in.

“Go away!” Taako cried, hoping to scare off whatever animal was sniffing him out.  Suddenly, he saw two pinpricks of light as a creature’s head whipped towards him, it’s eyes glowing eerily in the dark.  “I’m not joking, fuck off!” The creature began to barrel towards him, and Taako tried to scramble to his feet only to send another sharp bolt of pain through his body.  Fog was starting to close in over his very limited vision, and he slid down the trunk of the tree, the eyes of the creature getting closer and closer, until he could feel it’s breath on his face.  His vision was fuzzy, but he could make out the massive shape standing over him.

“Taako…” a gruff but soft voice whispered into the darkness.  “Are you alright?”

Before Taako could answer, he was being lifted up by burly arms, jostling his leg and sending another bolt of pain through him.  He tried to shout, but was quickly pressed into a massive furry chest before he could. The warmth of the body and the pain in his foot overtook him, and he finally passed out.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on a couch, bundled up in blankets next to a roaring fire.  His eyes darted around, trying to figure out what had happened, when he spotted the massive, hairy, antlered figure lying next to him on the floor, soaking wet and fast asleep.

Magnus.

Which meant he was… he forced himself to sit up, and recognized that he was back in the castle.

“How did-”

A soft voice on the mantle shushed him, and Taako looked up to see Merle sitting up above the fireplace.

“Merle,” Taako whispered.  “How did I get back here?”

Merle gestured to the sleeping monster on the floor.  “He was worried about you, after you left.”

“Like hell he was,” Taako hissed.  “He was planning on  _ poisoning _ me.”

Merle laughed.  “Where did you get  _ that _ stupid idea?”

“He… he was asking you about-”

“Poisonous plants?” Merle finished.  “Yeah  _ I know _ .  He wanted to know if the mushrooms and roots he had found were safe for you to eat.”

Taako glanced down at the sleeping figure on the floor.  “Wh… what?”

“I told him you’d be able to transmute anything that wasn’t safe,” Merle explained, “but he wanted to be  _ sure _ he wasn’t going to hurt you.  You  _ idiot _ .”

Taako, for once, didn’t know what to say.

“He’s not a farmer, he doesn’t know what’s edible or not,” Merle continued, sounding smug.  “But Lup told him you were asking about vegetables, and he figured he could find something in the forest when he was out hunting.”

“Lup!” Taako shouted, and Magnus stirred in his sleep a little, a soft snore breaking the silence of the room.  Taako lowered his voice. “I dropped Lup in the forest, is she okay?”

“Now she is, no thanks to  _ you _ ,” Merle laughed bitterly.  “When Magnus found her, she was completely inert.  We think she had almost transformed fully into an umbrella.  She’s awake now, though she’s pretty shook up. I think the spell is even stronger than we thought.”

Taako looked around the room, watching shadows dance on the stone floor and walls.  He then turned back to look at Magnus, still sleeping soundly and looking rather like a particularly dirty bear skin rug.

“He maybe just saved my life,” Taako said.

“Which is better than you deserve after being so dang nasty to him,” Merle spat.

“Merle don’t be ridiculous,” came Lucretia’s voice as the candelabra hopped her way into the room.  “Taako didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” Taako asked.

“About Julia,” Lucretia sighed as she came closer to the couch.  “Taako… she was Magnus’  _ wife _ .  He loved her so much.  Her death is what transformed him into  _ this _ .”

“Shit,” Taako hissed, realizing what the stunned look on Magnus’ face had meant when Taako left.  Of course he was shocked. Taako had just accused him of killing his wife.

“What happened in the forest?” Lucretia asked.  “Lup doesn’t seem to remember much after you two got into the trees.”

“It was weird,” Taako admitted.  “No matter which way I ran, it was always the wrong direction.  I felt like we were going in circles.”

“Barry said that could be a possibility,” Lucretia muttered.  “What good is a curse that keeps us hidden if it doesn’t also keep us from getting help?”

“So you think I really am stuck here?” Taako asked, feeling a knot forming in his throat.

Lucretia simply answered “Maybe.”

At that, Magnus stirred again, this time lifting his massive shaggy head off the flagstone to look up at Taako on the couch.

“You okay?” he mumbled through sleep and fangs.  Once again, his monstrous features were completely at odds with his sweet demeanor.

“Yeah sure whatever,” Taako replied, feeling a hot blush creep over his face.  He wasn’t used to someone giving a shit, let alone saving his life. He shifted under the blanket, and found his foot was wrapped up in some sort of bandage.  He swung his leg out to look at it.

“I carried you back,” Magnus explained as Taako looked at his bandaged foot.  “Sorry if I hurt your foot more. You’re lucky, it’s just a sprain.”

“Why did you come after me?” Taako asked.  “We barely know each other.”

“I don’t…” Magnus glanced down at the floor.  “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew you had gotten hurt because of me.”

“Well... thanks,” Taako said.  “Not a lot of people would have done that for me.  I’m not exactly a well liked guy.”

Magnus yawned, his massive maw stretching wide as his tongue curled inside it.  “Well that’s crazy. Anyone with eyes can see you’re a good guy.”

Taako found himself struck by that.

“You… you don’t know anything about me.”

“Maybe I don’t,” Magnus admitted, scratching behind his ears with a massive paw.  He looked at Taako. “I’d… I think I’d like to, though. If you’re going to be staying here… maybe we could try getting to know each other a little better.  That is… I know I’m a bit much, and I wasn’t exactly the most hospitable this past week but… I’d like to be friends, if you’re okay with that.”

Taako caught himself holding his breath, and he wasn’t sure why.  All the residents had said that Magnus was nice, but this was his first  _ real _ interaction with him, and Taako could finally see what everyone meant.  He was warm, and despite obviously being nervous about speaking to others, he was welcoming.  Taako felt more welcomed by this monster than he had ever felt by any crowd of fans.

“I think I’d be down for that,” Taako said cooly, resting his damaged foot up against Magnus’ side.  “So you were getting me mushrooms, huh?”

“Yeah I…” Magnus looked away again at the spot on the floor.  “I heard you were hungry, and Lup told me you know how to cook, and I’m not much of a chef but… I thought I’d try to help.”

“Do you  _ not  _ know how to cook?” Taako asked, and Magnus simply responded by holding up his massive paws with giant claws.  “Alright, fair point. So you’ve really been eating raw meat for five years?”

“Yeah,” Magnus admitted.  “It’s… kinda grown on me.”

“Do you at least put it on a plate?”

Magnus grinned sheepishly in response.

“No no no,” Taako said, “New decree by your  _ new  _ best friend Taako.  You will meet me in the kitchen every night for a cooking lesson, and we will have dinner together like  _ people _ , alright?”

“You sure?” Magnus asked.

“Absolutely,” Taako replied.  “I might not be able to do much, but I can _ at least _ make sure you don’t get any more parasites from eating raw meat.”

At that Magnus chuckled, and it was genuine and unbridled for the first time.  Taako felt that knot in his throat relax at the sound of it. For what felt like the first time in weeks, he felt safe.

Maybe he really was safe here.


	6. Small Changes in Our Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard has invited the Beast to dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a heads up, this chapter features mentions of a dead animal and how it died, a minor scene of butchering an animal for food, and a momentary mention of thoughts of suicide. I think they're relatively tame, but I wanted to make sure that everyone was aware going into it! Despite all that I really like this chapter, I think it turned out nice. Lots of setup for later things. Hope you enjoy!

The first thing Taako did upon waking up the next morning was find Lup.  After hobbling down the stairs on his bandaged foot, he found that she and Barry were in the dining room sitting on the table talking.  Lup was laying next to Barry, who was folded up neatly. Taako realized that this was Barry’s way of sitting. As he approached the table, Lup turned to look at him.

“You okay?” he asked, trying not to seem too concerned, but he saw Lup smile and knew he wasn’t fooling her.

“No thanks to you,  _ loser _ ,” Lup laughed.  “Way to lose  _ me _ and also  _ get lost _ .  That’s some sense of direction you’ve got there.”

Taako pulled out a chair near the pair so he could sit down, and immediately flopped his head down into his folded arms in frustration.

“I don’t know what happened,” he sighed.

“I have theories,” Barry replied.  “But I think it’s safe to say whatever fluke in the magic let you  _ in _ , Taako… isn’t going to let you back out so easily.”

“But what happened to you?” Taako asked, gesturing at Lup.  “Merle tells me you went totally still, and you didn’t answer me when I called for you.  Couldn’t you hear me?”

“Oh I could  _ hear _ you,” Lup answered grimly.  “I just couldn’t  _ move _ at all.  It felt… it felt like I was going stiff, like I was losing  _ whatever _ it was that makes me able to move.”

“I’m worried that if one of us tries to leave the castle,” Barry continued, “we will completely transform into objects.  Another fabulous trait to the curse, I guess.”

“Hatchi machi,” Taako sighed.  “So much for getting help then.”

“So Taako,” Lup said, rolling herself closer to the wizard.  “You gonna tell us more about yourself now? Seeing as you’re trapped here with us?”

“That’s pretty bold of you to ask!” Taako laughed nervously.

“I’m just saying, your little  _ ‘I’m so aloof and don’t give a shit about anyone’ _ act is wearing a little thin,” Lup replied.  “You’re gonna have to talk to us eventually, it might as well be now.”

“I don’t have to tell you two anything about myself if I don’t want to,” Taako snapped.  “Besides, I don’t know anything about  _ you _ , except you’re a girl that got turned into an umbrella and he’s a pair of jeans.”

“Okay fine then we’ll start,” Lup said calmly.  “I’m an elf, used to be an evocation wizard back when I had hands.  I came to this village to help out with a drought they were having. Barry there was human wizard, used to be a bit of a scientist back in the day.  Would help out the farmers in the village with optimizing their crops.”

“It was a little more complicated than that,” Barry replied softly.

“Your turn,” Lup continued.  “Tell me something about you.”

“I’m an elf and wizard and chef and I came here to hide out,” Taako replied coolly.  “There, that covers all the same bases you did.”

“I already knew all those things,” Lup snapped.

“Then now we’re even,” Taako hummed with a grin.

“ _ Fine _ .  What do you want to know?” Lup sighed.

Taako thought about it.  This would be a good opportunity to get some more information about the situation these people had ended up in.  It wasn’t like he  _ cared _ about it, but if he was going to be living in the middle of it he might as well have an understanding of it.

“How did all this-” he gestured at the pair wildly, “even happen?  Who would curse a town full of people like that?”

“Lord Kalen would,” Barry replied.

“He was the guy who lived in this castle before us,” Lup explained.  “Real shitty guy. Taxed the townsfolk so much they could hardly get by, and if you  _ didn’t _ pay you were severely punished.”

“What, is this punishment for not paying your bills?” Taako asked.

“Nah we…” Lup took a moment to gather her thoughts.  “We revolted.”

“Sore loser, huh?” Taako laughed weakly.

“You could say that,” Barry agreed.

“Alright alright, your turn,” Lup said excitedly.  “Tell ussss… who you’re hiding from.”

“That’s a  _ very _ personal question Lup!” Taako shouted.

“And asking us how we got turned into furniture isn’t personal?” Lup replied.  “Come  _ on _ , Taako.  You don’t have to get into specifics, but give me  _ something. _ ”

“Alright fine,” snapped Taako.  “If you really want to know, I’m hiding out from… from bad publicity.  There was an...  _ accident _ at one of my shows, and I’m laying low until it blows over.  It would be tacky to keep touring in the public eye after all that.”

Lup looked at him carefully, and once again he got the impression that this umbrella understood him a lot better than he understood himself.  He  _ hated _ that.

“Did anyone get hurt?” she asked.

Taako averted his eyes from her.  “Yeah. People got hurt.”

“Was it your fault?” she continued before Barry raised a leg to cut her off.

“Lup come on, you asked your question, let Taako ask his,” Barry scolded.  “It’s no fair if you just keep grilling him, and it’s clearly a sensitive topic for the guy.  Move on.”

In that moment, Taako realized that Barry was looking out for him, and he felt almost guilty.  These people had so much shit to deal with, and here comes this haunted pair of jeans having the  _ nerve _ to feel  _ bad _ for Taako!  Ridiculous.

“Fine,” Lup responded shortly.  “Then ask me a question, Wizard Chef.”

“No need to get snippy,” Taako replied.  “Anyway, I don’t really want to ask you more questions.  I kinda got the vibe on this place, I think. Not really sure what to  _ make _ of it, but whatev.”

“You just don’t want me asking more about you,” laughed Lup.  “It’s fine, I’ll figure you out eventually.”

Just then Taako heard the sound of metal tapping on stone, which he had come to recognize as the sound Lucretia made as she hopped around the castle.  He turned in his chair to see the small candelabra entering the room, followed closely by Merle.

“Taako,” said Lucretia, coming close to his chair, “would you by chance be willing to help us organize a cleaning effort in the main bath?  We could use the help of someone a little… taller than anyone we currently have available.”

“Cleaning is  _ not _ my area of expertise,” Taako admitted with a sheepish grin.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Merle answered.  “We just need some help figuring out what needs to be done, and it would be a lot easier if there was someone there who didn’t have to climb on top of furniture to see around the room.”

“I get ya,” he said, carefully standing without putting too much weight on his foot.  Lup rolled to the edge of the table and nudged him with her beak. “What?” Taako squawked. “What do you want?”

“Use me as a cane,” Lup laughed.

“Isn’t that a little demeaning?” Taako asked.

“I’m not gonna stand by and watch you hobble around on a bad foot,” she huffed.  “Come on, I’ll help you around. Catch you later Barold?”

“Yeah sure,” said the pair of jeans, and Taako grasped Lup’s handle tightly and lifted her off the table.

With the help of Lup’s support, Taako was able to make it to the baths a lot faster than he would have otherwise.  He was appreciative of her help, but also kinda suspected she just wanted to grill him more. That was fine. He kinda liked having her around, as obnoxious as she was with her pestering.  It felt nice. Familiar.

Taako remembered seeing the large, elegant baths when he had gotten the tour from Lup earlier in the week, but he had forgotten how  _ massive _ they really were.  Towering columns of stone lined the room, and between each one Taako could make out the bumpy texture of a filthy mosaic decorating walls.  There were broken down stone benches, and shattered mirrors all over the place, and in the center of the room there was a bathing area the size of a small indoor pool.  Taako had never seen a bathtub so large, and this one was being constantly filled by what looked like a magical fountain on the far end of the pool.

“It’s a nice enough place, but kinda filthy,” Taako admitted.  “I take it the furball hasn’t taken a bath in five years, given the state of it.”

“It’s not like  _ we _ can smell him,” Merle said with a shrug, and Taako had to admit it was a good point.  “Besides, I don’t think he likes using Kalen’s more lavish rooms.”

“Who broke all the mirrors then?” Taako asked, pointing at the broken glass around the room.”

“Mmm, that was  _ definitely _ Magnus,” Lup muttered against Taako’s hand.  “The big guy doesn’t really like looking at himself.”

“Yeah I noticed,” Taako admitted.  “The only mirror in this whole damn castle that isn’t broken is Davenport.”

“The first few months after his change were rough for him,” Lucretia admitted.  “Can’t tell you how many times I had to clean and bandage up his paws after he smashed a mirror.  It was so hard for us.”

“Yeah I’d imagine that would be difficult with no hands,” Taako agreed, but Lucretia shook her head.

“Oh no, I had hands then,” she explained.  “We all did.”

“So this was  _ before _ you all were transformed?” Taako said, trying to figure out the timeline.  “But  _ after _ Magnus was?”

“There was a brief time where he was the only one who was affected,” Lucretia explained as she gestured for Taako to pick her up and place her on a nearby bench.  He did so, and she continued. “It wasn’t until we tried to reverse his curse that we were cursed too.”

“So… what is it you guys need me to do?” Taako asked as a few other members of the castle joined them in the room.  He guessed that Lucretia had organized a cleaning day after their discussion about how it might improve the spirits of the people who lived here, and it had apparently resonated with a few of them.

“Just give a little direction,” Lucretia admitted.  “It’s hard to get the big picture if you’re only a couple inches high.  We could use a pair of eyes higher up that can tell us what needs to be done.”

“I  _ guess _ I can do that,” Taako admitted.  “Y’all should probably start with the glass shards, that seems like the biggest issue right now.”

With that, the group got to work gathering up the glass off the floor.  Merle fetched a wastebasket from a nearby bedroom to collect the shards together.  It wasn’t his area of expertise, but Taako was reasonably certain he could transmute the glass back into mirrors if they wanted him to.  Whether or not  _ Magnus _ would like it was another story.

The residents worked well together, passing glass shards in a chain from the smallest to the tallest, until they finally reached Lup who could drop them into the basket.  As they did, Taako slowly hobbled his way around the room to look at the walls and fountain up close.

He couldn’t really make out what the design of the mosaic was, it was far too dirty.  Taako tried to brush some of the dirt off with his hand, but the dust was much thicker than he expected and he didn’t want to get  _ that _ dirty.  He dusted his hands off against each other, and moved over to look at the bath.

The water was not as disgusting as the rest of the room, though there was plenty of rubble and trash gathered in the bottom of the pool.  Taako imagined the only reason the water was clear was because of the fountain constantly pumping fresh water into the basin. A never-ending water spell was pretty advanced magic, so he carefully made his way over to look at it.

It was a tiered fountain, four layers of increasingly smaller golden basins, with water spilling over the sides and down into the pool below.  Taako could make out that each layer had delicate carvings and inlaid gemstones that were slowly wearing away after years of water pouring over them, leaving a distinct tarnishing watermark on the gold that showed where the cascading water always fell.  

As he got a little closer, he noticed that the basin at the very top was small enough to be a drinking goblet, but something was off about it.  It wasn’t  _ quite _ the same shade of gold as the rest of the fountain, and it’s decorations were nowhere near as elaborate.  It looked as though someone had attached the unmatched top of another fountain to this one, which seemed odd in a bathroom as lavishly furnished as this.  And the water kept bubbling out and over, never ceasing. It had to be quite a powerful spell that kept this fountain going, and Taako was curious.

Taako reached up to touch the top tier, when he heard a shout.

“ _ Don’t touch it! _ ” Lucretia cried from across the room.  

Taako hesitated, and then pulled his hand away with a frown.  “I just wanted to see how it worked,” Taako shouted back, glancing at the strange fountain.

“It’s  _ not _ safe to touch it!” Lucretia answered back.  “ _ Please _ , come away from there!”

Lup hurried over in quick hops, and helped Taako walk back around the pool to where Lucretia was.

“Sorry, didn’t realize the fountain was dangerous,” Taako laughed, trying not to read into Lucretia’s panicked face.

“It’s not a fountain,” Merle replied.

“We made it,” Lucretia continued.  “For Magnus.”

Taako frowned, glancing back at the bubbling basin.  “What the heck  _ is _ it?”

“It was supposed to help him,” Lucretia sighed.  “I don’t want to talk about it right now, it’s too painful.  Maybe later okay?”

Taako wasn’t really sure what to make of that, but he wasn’t about to push the issue.  Not when he saw how said Lucretia looked talking about it. She was metal, but she seemed to practically wilt at the thought of explaining what they had made.

It was unsettling to say the least.

Lucretia insisted Taako sit and get off his foot, and he spent the next few hours instructing the residents from the not-so-comfort of a stone bench.  They managed to clean up all of the glass, and most of the broken tiles and crumbled stone from the benches. It looked a little better, but it certainly still looked like a mess.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Lucretia admitted.  “We are small and we don’t have hands. We can’t expect it to happen all at once.  I think it’s wonderful we were able to do as much as we could.”

“Getting the dirt out of here is going to be tricky,” Merle sighed.  “We aren’t going to be able to get up there and clean the walls or anything like that.”

“Taako can help us,” Lup answered confidently, and Taako actually felt a little proud to have her vouch for him, followed immediately by annoyance at being volunteered.  “He can use his magic to clean where we can’t reach.”

“I mean I can  _ try _ , but this is still going to take awhile,” Taako admitted. “And I really don’t think we’ll be able to do it all at once.  Our next big task is going to be cleaning out the broken furniture and deciding what to do with it. Maybe we meet back up in a week after we think about how to best deal with that?”

“I think that’s fair,” Merle admitted.

“Oh, Taako you better get going,” Lucretia said.  “I think we’re well into the afternoon, and you probably will want to wash up before you and Magnus make dinner tonight.”

“Oh right!” Taako cried.  “Almost forgot I had a dinner date.  See you around guys.”

He gathered up Lup and headed to the kitchen, carefully using her to support the weight of his foot as he went.

When he arrived in the kitchen he was surprised to find that Magnus was already there, talking quietly with Agnus (?) the teacup.  He was also surprised to find an  _ entire _ deer on the table.

“Holy shit did you  _ just _ kill this thing?” Taako demanded as he walked in.

“I found it in the forest with both back legs broken,” Magnus answered.  “Probably been laying out for about a day. Deer are hard to catch when you’re big and slow like me, and I don’t really  _ like _ killing them.  This one doesn’t have to suffer anymore though, and we’ll have food for the week.”

“I’ll be real with you,” Taako said calmly.  “Did  _ not _ really want the deer’s entire life story.  Also I realize that I knew that you hunted for your food, but I was  _ not _ expecting a literal deer to be on the table when I came in.”

“I can get rid of it,” Magnus said sheepishly, “if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Big guy, I’ve trapped and eaten lots of critters before, I’m no stranger to hunting,” Taako assured him.  “You do what you got to do in shitty situations. I’m more  _ startled _ than anything else, it’s been awhile since I’ve had to butcher my own meat.”

At that Magnus laughed, and Taako laughed too.

Magnus carefully gathered up Angus and returned him to the cabinet to keep him from getting mixed up with the non living utensils.  Once Lup was certain Taako wouldn’t walk around much, she hopped off as well to find Barry. Taako was a little said to see her go, but she wouldn’t be much help.  He would need both hands for this.

Taako washed up, and then got to work skinning and preparing the meat with a razor sharp knife he found in the drawer, carefully cutting out bone and silverskin and a little of the fat.  He had done this a lot when he was younger, even before he was in the traveling chef business. 

“You’re very good at this,” Magnus said as he watched Taako’s careful hands with awe.

“I grew up on my aunt’s goat farm,” Taako explained.  “Farm life is  _ pretty _ much a guarantee that you learn how to prepare livestock.  She taught me at a pretty early age how to butcher my own meat.  Also a little bit about how to make cheese, how to make bread, how to rotate crops to match the seasons…”

“Sounds like she taught you a lot,” Magnus replied.

“Yeah I guess,” Taako admitted.  “But I never wanted to be a  _ farmer, _ like she was.  Even when I was little I knew I couldn’t stay there.  There was always this feeling that something was… missing, you know?”

“At least what you learned was useful in the long run,” Magnus said with a smile, and Taako couldn’t help but smile back.

“Shit, we’ve been on speaking terms for a  _ day _ and I’m already spilling my guts to you,” Taako laughed as he looked over to Magnus.  “Guess you’ve just got a friendly face, huh?”

The creature smiled at the joke, fangs awkwardly bared.

“Anyway tell me about you,” Taako said, returning to the work at hand.  “What do you like to do?”

“Oh, I’m a carpenter,” Magnus muttered.  “Or at least… I was one.”

“How did a carpenter end up living in a castle like this?” asked Taako.

“It’s not that interesting,” Magnus sighed, “And I’m not exactly a carpenter anymore.  I don’t do much woodwork these days. Kinda hard with… these.” He held up his paws nervously.

“Yeah speaking of those, why don’t you give them a good scrub before you jump in here,” Taako tutted.  “Scour those claws real good, you walk around on them and you don’t bathe. I’ve  _ seen _ the state of the bathroom here.”

Magnus nodded and made his way over to the wash basin to clean his paws in the water that was there.  Taako made a small gesture towards him, and a white foaming soap began to form on the surface of the water as Magnus washed up.

“That’s pretty neat,” Magnus said. “Who taught you magic?”

“Self taught my man,” Taako replied, casting another spell on the dusty table to transform the dirt into salt.  After a quick taste test to ensure the magic had done it’s work, he began to roll the cuts of meat in the salt to help preserve whatever they did not use.  “When your only marketable skill is being an okay goathand, you gotta punch up that resume somehow.”

“Wasn’t it hard though?” Magnus asked.  “I don’t really get magic but everyone makes it seem like it’s pretty hard.  Merle and Lucretia studied for years.”

“I mean it definitely took me some  _ time _ but, you know,” he gestured at his ears.  “I’ve got plenty of it.”

He motioned Magnus over and checked his paws thoroughly before handing over some cuts of meat and instructing Magnus in the proper way to store it.  Taako dismissed the spell that had created soap, and transmuted some ice from the water in the wash basin, letting Magnus pack the ice into a large barrel around the venison steaks.

“They should keep a little longer like that,” Taako explained.  “Now you won’t have to go out as much cause the meat has gone bad.”

“...Is it bad I eat the spoiled meat anyway?” Magnus said with a sheepish look, and Taako cringed.

“How can you  _ live _ like that?” Taako demanded as he prepared the one remaining steak for cooking.  “Doesn’t it taste terrible? Doesn’t it make you  _ sick _ ?”

“It does but…” the beast hung his head low, embarrassed.  “I wasn’t exactly  _ trying _ to live.”

At that Taako’s gaze snapped to Magnus with a horrible realization of what  _ exactly _ Magnus had meant.  “Dude… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Magnus replied casually, trying to brush it off as he scratched at his neck.  “I’ve... been in a dark place these past couple years. Didn’t really see the point in trying to live through this.  Didn’t see the point in much of anything. This will be the first real meal I’ve had in awhile, so thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, you’re going to be helping,” Taako laughed softly, trying to relieve some tension in Magnus’ serious gaze.  “Now how comfortable do you think those big guys would be handling a knife?”

After some experimentation with various utensils, and adjustments with magic done by Taako, Magnus found a knife he was able to hold in his very large paws.  Taako showed him the best way to use it, rocking the knife on the cutting board rather than lifting it for each chop. Then Taako went to the counter and rummaged through the basket of edible roots and mushrooms Magnus had found, and brought some over for him to chop.

“How did you find  _ anything _ in that forest?” Taako asked.  “I can’t even see my hand in front of my face out there, and I have dark vision.”

“I don’t really see all that great out there either,” he admitted, “but I can smell pretty good.  I track things by smell when I have to navigate in those woods.”

“So, is that how you found me last night?  By smell?”

“...You smell nice,” Magnus muttered as he chopped.  Taako looked at him in surprise and got the distinct impression he was blushing under all that fur.

They did not say much else as Taako sliced up strips of venison and put them in a sizzling hot pot, nor when Magnus brought his cutting board filled with mushrooms over and tipped them in.  He watched quietly as Taako worked, stirring the pot and carefully adding cream he transmuted from water and flour he transfigured from dirt. He was very focused, utensils and ingredients hovering around him in carefully cast levitation spells.  Finally, a while after Taako put the lid on to let the mixture simmer, Magnus spoke again.

“You really are a very talented wizard,” he said with awe.

“Yeah well don’t get  _ too _ impressed,” Taako laughed nervously as he lifted the lid to take a taste with a wooden spoon.

“Hopefully you’re just as good a cook,” Magnus chuckled, reaching one long claw towards the stew for a taste of his own.

“Hey!” Taako squawked, rapping Magnus’ knuckles with the wooden spoon.  

Magnus’ head snapped to Taako with bared teeth and the hint of a snarl, but it died in Magnus’ throat as soon as he made eye contact.  Taako froze for a moment at the fierce look in Magnus’ eyes, his voice wavering as he continued. 

“I-I will  _ not _ take culinary criticism from someone who thought eating raw meat for five years was a good idea.”

Magnus slowly withdrew his paw, eyes narrowing, but eventually softening to the point of kindness again.

“...sorry,” he muttered.

“Can’t blame you too much for bad manners my dude,” Taako admitted, and was relieved to see Magnus shoulders slump just a little more.  “I’d be an unsociable bear too in your shoes.”

“I just…” Magnus looked over at the bubbling stewpot to avoid having to look Taako in the eyes.  “It’s been a long time. I don’t… talk with the others very much. I think they’re afraid of me. I  _ know _ they are.”

“In my experience they speak the world of you,” Taako replied.  “I think they don’t want to get into your space, but they’re really worried about you.  They’re not scared of you at all.”

“... I broke Merle,” growled Magnus.

“Lup tells me it was an accident,” Taako said.  “Like you would ever hurt someone on purpose.”

But Taako was surprised to find that Magnus did not respond to that at all.

After a little time had passed, the stew was finally ready.  Taako served it up and levitated it out to the dining room, Magnus supporting his weak foot as they both walked out.

“I haven’t eaten at the table in a long time,” Magnus admitted, pulling out a chair for Taako and then himself.

“You think you can hold a spoon?” Taako asked, passing over some silverware as he sat down.

Magnus fumbled with the spoon, which seemed almost like a toy in his large hands.  After a moment of grasping and shifting and utterly failing to hold it correctly, Taako waved his hand in a gesture that made the spoon float out of Magnus’ hand and back to the table.

“Let’s try this,” Taako said, putting down his own spoon and lifting up his bowl.  With a raised eyebrow he encouraged Magnus to do the same. With bowl in hand Taako took a long sip from his soup, and Magnus copied, though a little dribbled down his chin as he did.

Magnus smiled.  “It’s… it’s very good!”

“Well your opinion is  _ kinda _ worthless since I know you’ll eat garbage,” Taako shrugged.  “But thank you.”

“Thank  _ you _ ,” Magnus said earnestly.  “You’re very kind. You’re a good friend, Taako.”

Taako didn’t know what to make of the way his heart beat against his chest when Magnus said that, so he swallowed it down with another gulp of soup.

After cleaning up the dishes, Taako and Magnus said their good nights and Taako returned to his room.  Lup was nowhere to be seen, but he took it slow, climbing the stairs to his room carefully and slowly. There he found Davenport, still laying on the vanity.  He picked up the mirror and sat down on the bed with a sigh.

“Hey Dav,” Taako said quietly.  “I know… I know I said I wasn’t going to get involved with you guys.  And I’m still not really sure if I can do anything to help but… After being here a few days, I think I know what I  _ can _ do for you all.  It seems like what you all really need here... is a friend.”

“Davenport,” the mirror chirped back.

“And I’m not saying I’ll be a good one,” Taako continued.  “Hell I’m not even sure I know  _ how _ to be one.  The big guy is so lonely though, and you’re all on your own up here, and Lup and Barry and Lucretia and Merle…. everyone… just feels so  _ alone _ .  And I think… I think I need one too.  I need friends right now. And that’s tough for me to say, so you better appreciate it.  Taako hasn’t had many friends. So… I got to start somewhere. What do you say? You think we can be friends?”

There was a long silence, and Taako felt crestfallen after not immediately hearing a cheerful “Davenport!” in response to his question.  Just as he was about to give up, he felt the mirror stir in his hands once more.

“T-taako.  Friend.”

He was stunned.  Merle had said that Davenport could say things besides his name, but this was the first time he had heard it.  The voice was small, copying Taako’s cadence and tone, but it was  _ certainly _ Davenport.

“Taako, friend.  Taako, friend!  _ Friend _ !” the mirror cried, and Taako felt something in his chest stir that caused hot tears to well up in his eyes for the first time in the entire time he had been here.  With a heavy sniff, Taako rubbed his eyes with a free hand, and smiled at his reflection in Davenport’s surface.

“Thanks… thanks Davenport.”


	7. The Cracks Time Made Where Fear Seeped In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard finds a home in the last place he ever expected it, but begins to doubt he's earned it. As he learns the history of the castle and it's residents, he learns more about The Beast's past as The Woodsman, and wonders how he fits into this story of transformation and change. Meanwhile, The Beast also starts to soften, letting The Wizard see new sides of himself as they work together to solve a problem plaguing the castle.

It happened far quicker than Taako expected.

Between the casual chats with the residents, nightly dinners with the beast, frequent cleaning sessions, and evening conversations with Davenport, Taako was starting to feel more and more comfortable here in the castle.

He kind of hated that.

It had been a long time since Taako had lived in a “home”.  First because he was passed around a lot as a kid between relatives, then because he did not feel like he belonged on the farm he ended up at, and then because he lived out of a wagon as he traveled from city to city.  Having a bed to go back to every night that he wasn’t paying for, that felt like he  _ belonged _ in and was  _ welcome _ to felt strange.  A little scary too.  Coupling that with the fact that the “home” he had found was full of cursed strangers and a literal monster, he worried a bit what that said about him.

But the closest thing he had felt to home  _ before _ this was when he spent the night curled up to Sazed in the wagon, their bedrolls pushed together to maximize body heat in the drafty canvas caravan.

And he felt guilty that he had barely thought about Sazed the whole time he had been here.

“He’s probably fine,” Taako rationed to his reflection.  “If anything he’s probably  _ better off _ without me.  Sazed is a smart guy!  He probably isn’t missing me at all.”

“Missing Taako!” Davenport replied.  “Probably fine!”

Taako had seen Davenport’s vocabulary growing day by day.  It was just as Merle had said, Davenport mostly copied what he heard and held on to a few key words, like “Taako”.  But Taako was impressed how fast he had been gaining new words since his breakthrough.

“I just don’t know what a screw up like me could do,” Taako sighed.  “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I thought I could count on Saz when the shit hit the fan.  The way he looked at me like ‘ _ someone has to take the blame _ ’...  It’s like he was mad at me for something.”

“Blame Taako!” Davenport echoed in Taako’s hurt tone.  “Taako screwed up!”

“But how could he think that about me?” Taako continued.  “We’ve been working together for years, and he couldn’t even say he believed me!  That I didn’t do it. All he wanted to know was if I had eaten it too.”

“Believe me!” Davenport cried.  “Taako didn’t do it!”

“Well at least  _ you’ve _ got my back,” Taako muttered.  “I’m sure that will hold up really well in court.”

Taako had started taking Davenport on walks around the castle.  He figured even when the mirror was more animated, he probably didn’t get to move around much since he was made of glass.  He imagined that the hopping motion that the others did was not as effective for the top-heavy hand mirror. Getting creative with a scarf, he made a sling to hold the mirror at his hip, facing out so Davenport could see… or at least he was pretty sure he could.  It was hard to tell with Davenport where his “face” was, and he couldn’t exactly explain it himself.

Lup also often joined them on walks to help Taako stay off his foot.  It was healing quickly, but was still a little tender, and Taako was grateful for the help even if he wouldn’t admit it.

“So can I still ask questions?” Taako mused as they wandered the halls.

“Only if I can ask ones in return,” Lup laughed.

“I think I can handle that,” Taako chuckled.  “How about… you said you were a wizard too? Where did you study?”

“Self taught baby!” Lup cried.

“Holy shit me too!” Taako laughed. “Nobody in my one horse town knew much about it.  I bought books with my pocket change and learned on my own.”

“Holy shit!” Davenport mimicked.

“So mister big shot wizard grew up in a small town, huh?” Lup laughed.

“That is technically a question you know,” Taako teased.  “But yes, I had humble beginnings. I moved on the second I could though.  No room for my creative genius to grow in a place like that. How about you?  Where did you grow up?”

“Don’t remember,” Lup admitted.  “That was the first thing the curse took: our memories of what life was like outside this castle.  I can remember little foggy details, but the earliest full memory I have is the day I came to town.”

“And that’s the same for all of you?”

“No no, my turn,” Lup teased.  “So why cooking? I feel like a half decent wizard could get a better job than that.”

“Cooking makes me happy,” Taako said with a shrug.

“Okay that’s fair,” Lup agreed.  “And yeah, it’s pretty much the same for everyone, though most of the gang’s memories stop the day Magnus came to town.  I showed up a little after he did.”

The timeline, from what he could put together, was this.

Magnus Burnsides and his wife emerged from the forest with talks of revolution.  They had heard about the terrible treatment the townsfolk had received from their Lord, and they wanted to help.  They conspired with the town leaders, Merle, Lucretia, Barry, and Davenport, to overthrow the tyrant. They couldn’t really remember, but they assumed they had been thinking about it before, and did not just go with the first plan out of the mouth of a strange woodsman.

Lup had been hired as a magical consultant by the Lord, but upon seeing the state of the town she immediately joined their efforts.  This may or may not have been spurred on by a crush on Barry, who she worked with a lot under Kalen. She worked as a spy for the revolution right up until the day of the overthrow.

“When Kalen threatened to curse us for betraying him, Magnus told us not to be afraid,” Lup explained, “That he was bluffing and that we would overpower him, and that if someone did get cursed we could work together to fix it.”

“Yikes,” Taako hissed.  “Explains why the big guy feels so responsible for all of you.”

“When he was transformed we all scrambled to help,” Lup sighed. “We knew he’d do the same for any of us.  But… after Julia died he just… gave up. And we couldn’t do anything but make it worse.”

“Julia…” Davenport sighed wistfully.

“What was she like?” Taako asked.

“So great,” Lup sighed.  “Definitely the better half of the pair.  Magnus was warm and friendly and eager, but she was all that  _ and _ sharp as a tack.  Everyone loved her, she was one in a million.  We were all devastated when she died.”

“Wow,” Taako hummed.  “That sucks.”

That was the best he could muster though.  It was sad that this woman had died, but having never known her, Taako found it difficult to dig up more authentic sounding feelings about the situation.  And even knowing how seriously her death had effected everyone, he found it difficult to ration how the death of one person had somehow transformed Magnus into a monster.  But talking about all that was difficult for Taako, and as he discovered in their nightly cooking lessons, difficult for Magnus too.

“I don’t know,” the beast grumbled as he chopped some roots that Taako transfigured into carrots.  “I’m not really well versed in magic. All I know was that he cursed me to be devoured by a beast, and that I’d feel nothing but sadness for the rest of my days.”

“Well that’s super shitty,” Taako admitted.  “And in your case, weirdly metaphorical.”

“Lucretia and Merle tried to look into it but…” Magnus sighed.  “Then they got cursed too, and that was that.”

_ That _ was the best he could get out of him.

“So he’s like… really sad,” Taako mused to Lup on the way to bed that night.  “Like really  _ really _ sad?”

“No shit, he’s fucking cursed!” Lup laughed.

“Yeah, I  _ got _ that?  But like, that was the curse, huh?” Taako continued.  “To be sad for the rest of his life.”

“Well I think the curse was to be turned into a fucking bear monster,” Lup replied.  “That would make anyone sad.”

But the more Taako thought about it, the more it seemed like the transformation wasn’t  _ really _ the curse.  Or at least, not the worst part of it.

“Like it sucks he’s not human anymore,” he said to Lucretia one day as he levitated some of the broken benches to a corner of the baths.  “I’m sure that’s not fun. But it’s not like he got turned into something that negatively affects his life like it does for all of you. He still eats and sleeps and breathes and feels things.  You all got the shittier deal.”

“I mean there are definite downsides,” Lucretia said, gathering up small pieces of the fallen rubble from the floating benches.  “But you’re right. His transformation hasn’t stopped him from  _ living _ .  His  _ sadness _ does.”

“That’s weird though, right?” Taako mused.  “Like why even bother turning him into a monster if what you really want is to make him sad?”

“Well that’s what Merle and I thought when we tried to reverse the curse,” Lucretia admitted.  “Kalen mentioned a beast in his spell, but he was pretty clear that the purpose of the curse was to make Magnus miserable for resisting him.  At first we thought the beast was a metaphor, but after he transformed it became obvious there was more to it.”

“So walk me through what happened,” Taako said, sitting down on the floor next to Lucretia after dropping his bench near the wall.  “What was the chain of events?”

“Well, we succeeded in overthrowing Kalen, and when Magnus came to throw him in the castle dungeon, Kalen cursed everyone in the village,” Lucretia replied.  “At first nothing happened.”

“Nothing at all?”

“No, it was  _ totally _ normal,” Lucretia sighed.  “Magnus said that Kalen had been bluffing, that nothing bad had happened, so we got busy taking over the castle and getting ready to hold our very first election.  A lot of people wanted to vote for Magnus and Julia, they were such great leaders in the revolution, but I think they simply were waiting for the right time to duck out and return to their quiet lives in the woods.”

“Then the rain started,” Merle said as he hopped over to join them.  “And that’s when things went to shit.”

“So all this rain,” Taako gestured towards a window to the torrent of water still coming down outside.  “It was caused by Kalen?”

“At first we thought it was just a freak storm,” Merle admitted.  “But after it kept coming down for days without any letting up or break, we started to fear the worst.”

“Magnus was optimistic,” Lucretia said with a sad smile on her tiny metal face.  “Said that if rain was the worst thing Kalen could do to us, then there wasn’t anything to worry about.  We would just wait for it to stop.”

“But the rain didn’t stop,” Taako answered.

“One day Julia went out in the rain to try and make it to the next town over,” Lucretia sighed.  “She got lost, much like you did. The forest used to be her  _ home _ , but now she could not find a way through it.”

“She was gone for three days, and that journey is one  _ at best _ ,” Merle explained.  “We sent out search parties, but Magnus was the one who found her... passed out in the forest with a burning fever.  He brought her back to me, I’m a cleric you see, but there was nothing any of my medicine or spells could do. She wasted away right before our eyes, and we couldn’t do  _ anything _ .  Just like that… she was gone.”

And that, it seemed, was where everything went tits up.  Magnus was transformed that night, somehow becoming a monster as he was wracked with grief over the death of his wife.  They all watched it happen, but one really knew  _ why _ or  _ how _ .  But they all were certain Kalen had something to do with it.

“I’d never seen the effects of a curse have that long of a delay,” Lucretia explained.  “It’s true curses can lie dormant, but usually there are at least  _ signs _ that something is going on.  Magnus transformed  _ weeks _ after being cursed, and almost seemingly at the drop of a hat.  We had no explanation for it.”

“And when we went to confront that sonofabitch Kalen, he had escaped,” Merle growled.  “And we were left to try and figure it out ourselves.”

And based on what Taako could see, they hadn’t figured out much of anything at all.

“None of us were sorcerers,” Barry admitted one morning as he watched Taako enchant the non-living laundry into a soapy washbasin.  “I’ve dabbled in dark magic, but nothing like  _ this _ .  And now without hands it’s real hard to do any research into it.”

“So y’all are stuck,” Taako concluded.

“Honestly it was the perfect spell,” Barry admitted.  “We were rendered completely useless. Kalen really blindsided us.”

That at least seemed true enough.

One week after his failed escape, Taako awoke to Lup standing at the foot of his bed, handle curved up over the footboard.

“So… you haven’t really been on Magnus’ wing of the castle, right?”

Taako rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a frown as he sat up to look at her.  “No, y’all made it  _ pretty _ clear to stay away from there if I could help it.”

“Because I know you two have been hanging out more,” Lup explained casually, “and I thought maybe he’d be willing to let you help out with a problem he’s been having.”

Hanging out was one way to describe it.  Taako was surprised that Magnus had never missed a cooking lesson, though he tried to ignore that nagging feeling that the beast would grow tired of his company eventually.  Taako had also been seeing Magnus around the castle more in the daytime, no longer sneaking around and trying to keep out of sight from his guest. 

They had a friendly, if a bit stilted, banter going between them, and Taako was appreciative that Magnus was a man of few words.  Neither of them talked about much, but neither of them really wanted to. But Taako realized that he’d be willing to hear what Magnus had to say if the big guy ever wanted to open up, and he was fairly certain that he would do the same if Taako needed, no matter what that nagging voice said.

They had both realized pretty early on that there wasn’t much they  _ could _ do for each other besides listen.

“What kind of problem?” Taako grumbled.  “Because we have already established that I can’t -“

“No not anything about his whole deal,” Lup assured him.  “This one is more in your wheelhouse.”

Taako got up and was dressed within a few minutes, Davenport tied to his waist, and headed out into the castle. With a nod, Lup silently lead him toward into the wing he had not yet, explored.  By now his ankle was no longer sore, so he did not need her help to navigate the staircases they needed to climb. This gave Taako the chance to look around at his surroundings more.

Upon reaching the top floor, it became apparent immediately that they had entered Magnus’ wing.  The whole castle was run down, but these halls looked  _ measurably _ worse than anything downstairs, the shattered furniture that Lucretia had mentioned scattered in pieces all over the floor.  But there were other signs that this was where Magnus spent a lot of his time the deeper in they went. Deep gouging claw marks against the stone walls, tracked mud and dirt and hair all over the floor, discarded broken antlers that had been snapped off after growing too large to manage, and a very  _ persistent _ smell akin to wet dog.

“Magnus, you up here?” Lup called, “I brought Taako over to take a look at the leak.”

“Leak?” Taako asked as they rounded a corner, but his question was answered when he stepped in a growing puddle of water on the flagstone floor.

“In here Lup!” Magnus bellowed from down the hall, and Taako looked towards the sound to see a small stream of water trickling through the hallway from a room at the far end.

Of course.  It can’t rain for five years straight without some consequences.

Grabbing Lup, Taako headed down to the room the water was coming from.  Inside he found Magnus, sopping wet and fruitlessly trying to hold a bucket under one of several steady streams of water coming from the ceiling.  Taako popped Lup open to protect himself from getting drenched, and came to stand next to Magnus.

“I think you  _ might _ have a bit of a leak in here,” Taako mused, and Magnus sheepishly grinned at him out from under his wet mane of hair, flattened by the moisture until it covered his eyes.

“We’ve had leaks for years,” Magnus admitted.  “I go around every day and dump all the buckets out, but I guess we sprung a couple new ones last night and I didn’t catch it in time.”

“I didn’t even realize we  _ had _ leaks,” Taako admitted.

“Well they’re all on the top floor, which nobody but me really spends time on,” Magnus explained, adjusting his grip on the slippery bucket.  “And normally I’ve got stuff underneath to catch the water, so they don’t drip down onto the lower floors.”

“So you walk around every day and dump out a dozen buckets of water?” Taako asked.

“It’s more like fifty,” Magnus admitted.

“Fifty!” Taako cried.  “Aren’t you a carpenter? Why don’t you just  _ fix _ the roof?”

“I’ve tried but…” he shrugged, and Taako got the impression that he would hold out his paws like usual, if they weren’t occupied with holding the bucket of water.

“Well I don’t know any spells for  _ roof fixing _ ,” Taako admitted.  “I don’t think I can do anything better than a temporary fix, so I don’t know why Lup thought I’d be much help here.”

“Taako,  _ Magnus _ knows how to do a roof patch, but he can’t do it like this,” Lup explained.  “But if he tells  _ you _ what to do, then you can do it!”

“I don’t know Lup,” Magnus sighed.  “It’s pretty bad up there, and the patch needs to have time to dry in order to hold.”

“So Taako can dispel the water and use magic to speed up the drying process!” Lup explained.  “You two are the  _ perfect _ pair to fix this problem.”

“We’d have to climb out on the roof,” Magnus reasoned.  “But if we prep everything in here, we should be able to do it.”

“The roof!” Taako cried.  “Isn’t it going to be dangerous up there?  What if I slip and fall off?”

“Don’t worry,” Magnus soothed.  “I won’t let you fall.”

And looking into Magnus’ calm eyes, Taako really believed that.

Magnus and Taako spent the morning scouring the castle for the right materials to patch the holes.  They would need wood, which there was plenty of scattered around the upper floors of the castle. Taako was surprised just how much trashed furniture was in this wing.  Ruined dressers and shattered chairs and ravaged beds… it was like Magnus had a personal vendetta against all the furniture in the entire castle. Taako noticed the remains of fine carvings on every surface that were probably very beautiful when they were whole, and yet Magnus casually tossed each piece into a pile like it was garbage not worth saving.

They would also need a few sheets of thick canvas, which Taako was able to transmute together with layered ruined bedsheets.  He found them in a linen closet, musty and full of mildew but otherwise untouched. Magnus hadn’t been bothering with things like blankets for awhile, it seemed.  He wondered what Magnus slept on, but didn’t think it prudent to ask.

Finally they had to get some sort of tar for waterproofing, which would be harder to find if Taako were not a transmutation wizard.  A bucket of mud fetched from the courtyard, and a quick spell resulted a heavy bucket of tar for roof sealant.

“I have some of my old tools too,” Magnus explained, as they gathered the supplies near the largest window they could find on the top floor.  “A hammer and some nails… Let me get them for you.”

He padded off into the castle, towards a section Taako had not yet seen.  He wondered if this was where Magnus slept, and once again he wondered what kind of living conditions Magnus was dealing with up here.  Something told him it wasn’t great. After a few minutes, Magnus returned with an old leather tool belt, heavy with hammers and pockets full of nails.

“Here… you wear it,” Magnus said quietly, offering up the belt to Taako.

Taako could see that this belt was very well used in it’s day.  The buckle was tarnished, and the leather worn until it was almost soft.  A delicate tooling spanned the belt, sweeping swirls and flowers and leaves over the flat surfaces of the belt. They were faded and broken in with time and use, but it was very obvious that back when Magnus was a woodworker it was a beautiful piece of work in addition to a helpful tool.

“It’s very stylish,” Taako replied, taking the belt carefully into his hands.  He saw the reverance and hesitation in Magnus’ touch as he handed the belt over, and frowned.  “Are you  _ sure _ it’s okay if I use this?”

“Julia... made it for me,” Magnus answered, catching on his own words, and the reason for his hesitance instantly became clear.  “But… It doesn’t fit me anymore. She’d be happy to see it getting use again.”

“Julia!” Davenport piped from his hip. “Julia’s happy!”

“Whoops, sorry my dude,” Taako laughed.  “Better leave you here with Lup.”

After untying his makeshift sash, Taako placed Davenport carefully on the floor, and smiled at Magnus.  He watched with longing as Taako carefully wound the belt around his hips, and closed the clasp tightly so as not to lose the heavy tools once they got started.  It was a little big in size and shape for Taako, meant for someone else with a more imposing figure, but it would do.

“I’ll go out first,” Magnus decided, “I can carry all the stuff up, and throw you down a rope.  Then you can follow, and we can work on the patch up there together.”

“Is that safe?” Taako replied, glancing out at the pouring rain.  “It’s going to be really slippery out there. You sure you can climb it by yourself with all these things in your arms?”

“I’ll be fine,” Magnus insisted.  “My claws are long enough to grip into the wall, and I’m pretty strong.  I’m more worried about you.”

“That’s  _ very _ nice of you,” Taako laughed.  “But I could just as easily use levitate on all this stuff, and get out there without a problem.  Yeah I think I’ll do that, it’ll be  _ way _ easier.”

Magnus’ mouth hung open a little as if he had not considered this an option.  “Oh… oh right! You’re a wizard!” he cried, breaking into a smile. “Great! Okay, then I’ll go up first, and catch the stuff as you send it up!”

With that, Magnus opened the window and ducked his head low to allow for his antlers to clear the pane safely.  Once he was out, he hefted his body up onto the sill, twisted around, and scrambled up the building and out of sight in a fluid movement that Taako thought a form as hulking as Magnus would not be able to accomplish.  Taako ducked his head out just in time to see Magnus’ long tail disappear over the edge of the roof shingles. He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps above him that meant that Magnus had found his footing up there safely.

“Right then,” he muttered, turning to the supplies they had gathered.  With a flick of his wrist, he lifted one of the tarps he had conjured into the air and out the window for Magnus.  He would drape that over his antlers to make a sort of tent for them to work under. Then Taako lifted the bucket and wood, wrapping them up in the second tarp and floating it upwards and out with a curl of his fingers.

Finally, Taako cast his spell one more time on himself.  With a warm shudder, he felt his entire body get lighter, almost as though he was a piece of driftwood bobbing on the surface of a placid lake, and as he stepped up into the window frame and pushed off he felt the air hold him aloft just as water would.  With all the rain around him, soaking him through as he floated upwards, it almost felt like he was swimming in the sky.

He approached the roof slowly, and Magnus was there, tarp draped over his antlers and paw carefully extended to take Taako’s hand as he came closer.  He felt Magnus’ large, warm hand close around his and pull him in towards the roof, slowly and softly like he was a balloon on a string. It was a strange feeling.  As Magnus drew him in, Taako lowered his feet and dispersed the spell, allowing him to land softly and firmly on the roof shingles without a problem.

The roof was in a bad way, as most of the castle had been.  Five years of rain had hammered the stone shingles, wearing them down and knocking them loose.  The roof was mostly flat, so water was pooling in some of the more heavily damaged areas, causing puddles of water that were surely seeping deeper into the roof with every passing day.  There were broken tiles all over the place, and Taako was fairly certain he saw a large scorch mark where lightning had struck the castle.

“Yeah this is a mess,” Taako shouted over the rain, quickly coming over to Magnus to get underneath his makeshift tarp tent. He huddled close to Magnus, who was sopping wet but still so very warm, and Magnus put the paw that wasn’t grasping the bundle of supplies on his shoulder.

“I think we start with the worst ones,” Magnus said.  “And we will see where it goes from there.”

He led Taako towards the first area they would work on.  Once Magnus was blocking the rain, Taako carefully dispelled the pool of water with another snap of his wrist, letting them set down their tools and get to work.  They wouldn’t be able to  _ completely _ fix the leaks, not without tearing up all the shingles, but Magnus knew how to make patches and temporary shingles that would at least last them a while.  He gave careful instructions to Taako on how to pry off the broken tiles, how to shape the wood so it could wedge into the roof properly, how to nail everything in place to keep it from slipping, how to spread the tar to seal up the edges and keep the water from getting in.

Taako couldn’t remember the last time he had used a hammer, but Magnus went slow and was careful to explain things in great detail.  It was one thing to know how to do something, it was another to be skilled enough to instruct someone with no experience. Magnus  _ was _ that skilled.  When Taako struggled, Magnus slid his paws carefully over Taako’s hands to show him the proper way to hold things, and Taako was stunned once again by just how big Magnus’ paws were.  How big  _ Magnus _ was.  

Feeling the too-big belt shift on his hips as he reached for another nail, he wondered how big Magnus had been when he was a human.  He wondered what he had looked like, before the curse had taken his toll. Had he been handsome? What color was his hair? His eyes?  Did he have a farmer’s tan from working outside? Did he have scars? What had Julia seen in him, to fall in love with him? What had the townspeople seen, to follow him to revolution?  Taako was amazed to realize he had no idea what Magnus  _ really _ looked like.

And he was also surprised to find that as curious as he was about all that, it didn’t really matter that much.

Maybe that was because Magnus would probably never change back.  But it was also because he was such a soft and kind person, you almost didn’t notice that he wasn’t human (almost).  Taako was certain that if he were in Magnus’ shoes, no one would wonder about the person he had been before. No one would wonder about him at all.

With a pang he wondered if there was  _ anyone _ who missed him now.

They worked through the afternoon, moving from puddle to puddle with slow careful steps so as not to slip or dislodge any tiles under their feet.  Taako transmuted wood into the proper shapes, wedged and hammered them into place, slathered tar over them, and cast a heat spell to set the tar in place before moving onto the next leak.  All the while Magnus carefully instructed him, held onto his shoulders in case he slid, guided him safely until eventually they had patched up a large portion of the roof.

“I think that’s the best we’re going to get,” Magnus said as the rain rumbled a little harder.  “I think it’s going to start thundering, so we better get back inside.”

Taako floated the remaining supplies back down to the window, and then stood on the edge of the roof, trying to figure out the best way to make his way back inside.  Just as he was about to cast levitate again, Magnus came up behind him.

“Let me help,” Magnus muttered.  “I’ve been no help all day.”

“What are you talking about?  You’re the only reason this got done!,” Taako replied.  “I sure as fuck didn’t know how to repair a roof.”

“Yeah but… just let me help you down,” Magnus sighed.  “I don’t want you to fall.”

The look in Magnus’ eyes was pitiable, so Taako decided not to protest.  Magnus gathered him up in his arms and pushed Taako onto his shoulders so that Taako was riding him, piggyback style like a small child on the shoulders of their parent.  The tarp was still covering them both, and Taako gripped it tightly to keep it from flying off as Magnus shifted underneath him.

“Hold on tight.”

Taako looped an arm around one of Magnus antlers as the beast moved to all fours and started backing carefully down the edge of the roof, back legs digging into the side of the castle while his arms held onto the shingles.  Taako could feel the muscles of Magnus’ shoulders straining tight under his hips, and it was honestly a bit breathtaking. With a shift, Magnus let one arm drop, then the other. They slid, slowly, as Magnus’ claws dragged against the stone leaving deep scratches, until they were level with the window.  With a grunt Magnus grasped the edge of the pane, dangled out below the open window while Taako scrambled off his shoulders inside. Once he was safe, Taako grasped at Magnus’ arms, finding purchase in thick fur, and tried to help pull Magnus up into the window himself. Magnus heaved forward effortlessly, and Taako suspected he hadn’t done much helping at all.

“That was an experience,” Taako laughed, flicking his wrists to get off the water from his hands as he watched Magnus shake himself off like a dog.  “Let’s see how we did?”

Magnus lead him to a few of the places where there had been leaks, and sure enough each one had been stopped up at the source.  Taako couldn’t help but feel a little proud at his handiwork. He was used to doing everything with magic, and while he had done  _ some _ of this with spells, the majority of the work he had done with his own two hands.  There was something kind of amazing about that.

Suddenly a shiver ran over him, and he realized just how wet and cold he was now that he was no longer huddled next to Magnus’ giant frame.

“Come on, let’s head back downstairs,” Magnus said.  “We’ll get a fire going and warm up.”

They gathered up some of the unused wood, and Taako returned Davenport to his hip.  It was a bit of a trek back to the main hall, and they made some diversions to grab food and drink from the kitchen, but once Taako was seated on the floor in front of a roaring fire he couldn’t complain too much.  Lup, Merle and Lucretia had joined them, dragging a large blanket behind them, which Taako happily wrapped himself up in. Snug with a plate of leftovers and a transmuted glass of wine, Taako sighed with content. Magnus sat a good distance away, until Taako patted the floor next to him.

“Come here big guy, cuddle up,” Taako laughed, and he grinned as Magnus sheepishly moved to him, curling up behind him the way a large dog might, head on the floor next to him and tail draped on the other side.  Taako leaned back against Magnus, sinking into the thick fur and soft fat of the beast’s sides, and was pleased to see Magnus’ tail flick in a way not unlike a happy cat would, and the look on Magnus’ face shared an equally fond look.

“I’d say we earned a nice easy night,” Taako chuckled, lifting one arm to rub at Magnus’ haunch behind him, and using the other to push the plate of food closer to Magnus.  “Good job all around and all that, take tomorrow off.”

“Thank you for your help, Taako,” Magnus said.  “You don’t know how frustrating it’s been, knowing how to fix it all these years and not being able to.”  He snatched a strip of venison jerky off Taako’s plate with his teeth.

“Nah I could see how that would grate on you,” Taako admitted, taking a long sip of his wine.  “Thanks for showing me how to do it, it was cool to learn something from you for a change. You really know your stuff.”

They chatted idly about roof construction and architecture and weather, about  recipes for venison and techniques for preparing mushrooms and how transmutation magic worked.  All the while Taako drank, refilling his cup with water-turned-wine, and both of them danced around talking about anything meaningful long into the night.  The fire grew weak, and the others went off for the night, but the pair remained (plus Davenport) long after they had run out of sensible and safe things to say.

Between the warm fire, the soft blanket, the belly full of food and magic wine, the gentle rumblings of Magnus’ body, the fatigue after a long day’s work, and the general mixed feeling of accomplishment and shame, Taako felt himself getting sleepy as he nestled in closer to Magnus to listen to the beating of the monster's heart.  It didn’t sound all that different than a regular heart.

Probably because it wasn’t, Taako thought.

“Magnus,” Taako yawned sleepily.  “Do you think you’ll  _ ever _ be human again?”

“I don’t know,” Magnus admitted softly, curling his head closer to Taako.  “I had given up on it for so long but… I don’t know. Being around you has kinda made me wonder if it’s still possible.  Do you ever think you’ll try to go back home?”

Taako swallowed down the lump in his throat.  “Nah, no one is missing Taako out there,” he laughed, but it was thick and low as he thought about what he had been running from.  “People would be glad to be rid of me.”

“That can’t be true,” Magnus said, lifting his head to look at Taako.

“Yeah it is,” Taako sighed.  “At least you have  _ friends _ here.  My only friend threw me under the bus.”

“Well, at least you’re still  _ you _ ,” Magnus chuckled, and Taako tried not to think about how he’d rather be  _ anyone _ else.

“There has got to be a way to change you all back,” Taako muttered, eyes getting heavy.  “You don’t deserve this. None of you do. You’re a  _ good guy _ , Magnus.”

“You’re a good guy too, Taako.”

“No…” Taako slurred, burying his face into Magnus’ fur.  “I’m not I… the only monster in this castle now is  _ me _ .”

But before Magnus could say anything to the contrary, Taako was fast asleep.


	8. A Heart, Poisoned Against Itself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wizard awakens, and finds he has to deal with the aftermath of things he said the night before. But how can he convince the Beast that he deserves everything that has happened to him? And can the Beast convince him that bad things happen to good people?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god it's been awhile but yes i live here is an update it is entirely a talking/feeling chapter because they need to have that to get to the next plot point

When Taako finally overcame his stupor enough to open his eyes the next morning, he found himself snuggled back into bed with the comforter pulled up over his head.  Sitting up, he noticed he was still in the clothes he had fallen asleep in, but as he sat up he saw that once again his boots were carefully tucked away under the vanity.

“Magnus,” he grumbled through his fatigue.  Clearly he had been the one who carried him to bed after Taako passed out.  “Shit what even happened last night?”

As if responding to his question, Taako heard the sound of his own voice echoing back to him.

_ “Magnus, do you think you’ll ever be human again?” _

“Dav is that you?” Taako moaned, climbing out of bed to fetch the hand mirror from where it had been carefully placed on the vanity.  His memory of last night was clouded with  _ way _ too much of the wine that he had conjured, but he vaguely remembered asking Magnus about that.  There was a low grumble, and then his voice came through again, loud and clear.

_ “You don’t deserve this.  None of you do.” _

Picking up Davenport, Taako saw something he had never seen before in the mirror.  Rather than reflecting Taako’s tired face back at him, Davenport seemed to be showing an empty ceiling.  As Taako looked closer, he heard Magnus’ low voice in the background of the scene, distant and foggy, and with a haze Taako realized he was looking at the sitting room they had talked in last night.  He could just make out the top of his own thigh on the edge of the scene, and a bit of Magnus’ tail flitting in the foreground, but otherwise it seemed to be a reflection of the  _ ceiling _ of that room, from Davenport’s perspective on the floor.

Somehow Davenport was playing back their conversation from last night.

_ “The only monster in this castle is me.” _

“Shit,” Taako sighed, rubbing his face.

“Taako is  _ good person _ !” Davenport cried in his usual voice, no longer playing back something he had heard.  “Taako is  _ not _ monster!”

“Buddy... clearly I was drunk, don’t read too much into it,” Taako muttered, feeling his face get hot as he tried to avoid looking at himself in Davenport’s reflection.

He couldn’t believe he had said that to anyone.  Why was he such a sucker for these people? He should have never let his guard down like that.  He had been drinking, but he shouldn’t have been  _ that _ wasted… he certainly had far worse nights before.  But everything was still a little fuzzy, and he couldn’t help but wonder… Had he said anything  _ else _ ?  Just then he noticed a scrap of paper, scrawled with some of the messiest handwriting he had ever seen.

Almost as if the one writing it had a hand far too large for the pen.

> **_WE SHOULD TALK_ **
> 
> ~~**_SOON_ ** ~~
> 
> **_SOMETIME_ **
> 
> ~~**_WHEN YOU AREN’T DRUNK_ ** ~~ , it said.

“Fuck.”

“Taako is Davenport’s friend,” the mirror concluded.  “Taako is good person.”

“I’m not in the mood to argue this,” Taako sighed, putting Davenport down on the vanity.  “I know this is hard to understand but… You don’t know  _ anything _ about me, Dav.  None of you do!”

“That’s not  _ our _ fault,” came Lup’s voice from out in the hallway.  Taako sighed.

“It’s not  _ nice _ to eavesdrop, Lup,” he said, throwing a stern look at the closed bedroom door  As if she could see him through solid wood.

“Kinda hard to learn anything about someone who  _ won’t open up _ ,” Lup continued.

“And what exactly would you  _ gain _ from that, huh?” snapped Taako in return.  “What benefit do you gain from knowing who I am or what I’ve done?”

Her response was soft, but he still heard it clearly in the quiet of the room.  “...We get the benefit of knowing  _ you _ better.”

Taako fumed quietly for a moment, looking back and forth from the closed door and the large broken mirror on the vanity.  His cracked reflection looked back at him, fractured and multiplied and distorted to the point where he could barely recognize himself in it.

“Maybe you wouldn’t  _ like _ me if you knew me better,” Taako finally muttered.

A long silence followed, and Taako wasn’t sure Lup even heard him until she answered.  

“Isn’t that for us to decide?”

Taako turned back to the bed, tossed aside the covers and threw himself down on the mattress without saying a word.  He wasn’t in the mood to talk about this. He didn’t owe Lup any explanation, and he wasn’t ready to deal with this shit.  He waited until he finally heard the sound of Lup’s tap-tap-tapping hop away, and then buried his face in one of the pillows with a groan.

He was so stupid.

Everyone in this castle was so  _ nice _ .  And has much as he had insisted he wasn’t going to get invested, he had sort of fallen into the trap of thinking of them as  _ friends.   _ But no, you can’t be friends with someone you know nothing about.  He knew so much about them, and they knew almost nothing.

He was pretty much a stranger to them.

Of course that was because he kept them at arm’s length, but  _ that _ was for their own good.  If they found out that Taako had been responsible for the death of almost  _ 40 people _ , they probably wouldn’t be as nice to him.  Why would they? Who would want to be friends with a  _ murderer _ ?  He was protecting them from that, from the disappointment of finding out that the person they counted as a friend was actually a horrible garbage pile of an elf.  It was for  _ them _ that he did this.  They were better off not knowing.

“What a fucking load of shit,” Taako muttered into his pillow.  “You think you  _ really _ want to be my friend, Dav?  That’s what I am. A fucking load of shit.”

Davenport didn’t reply, but Taako knew he was listening.

He stayed in bed for the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon, staying under the covers and listening to the rain outside.  Folks came by and knocked on his door, but he sent them away one after another. He didn’t want to see anyone, not now. He  _ definitely _ didn’t want to see Magnus, who was probably worrying his dumb furry head over Taako when he really wasn’t worth the effort.  

Unfortunately Magnus was a little more insistent.

At what felt like late afternoon, Taako could hear the telltale shuffling and grumbling of the bear in the hallway, followed by a strong and consistent rapping, like he was using a singular claw to tap on the wooden door.

“Taako?” Magnus said.  “You in there?”

“ _ Go away, _ Magnus,” Taako grumbled, rolling over in the bed and twisting the blanket around him more.

“Are you hungry?” Magnus asked.  His voice was calm and steady, and that insufferable sweetness and gentle demeanor was coming through loud and clear.  Taako rolled his eyes. Clearly he wanted to breach the subject of last night, given the note he left, but was doing his best to dance around it on his big lumbering paws.  “I can bring you something from the kitchen, if you’re not feeling well.”

“I feel fine, leave me  _ alone _ ,” Taako replied, tucking his chin into his chest and pulling the comforter over his head.  “I’m not in the mood to do this shit today.”

“ _ Taako _ .”  His voice was small, not at all fitting of the huge figure he knew was on the other side of the door.  And it hung there, not a question or a command. Just his name. Waiting for a response.

And Taako didn’t know how to deal with the way his chest tightened at it, how he felt disappointed in himself and embarrassed of his failures and ashamed of who he was and what he had done.

“I’m.... not a good person,” he said finally, mostly to himself but he was sure Magnus could hear him with his big animal ears.  “There’s a reason I’m here, a reason why things have turned out the way they have for me, and it’s not because I’m a  _ good guy _ or whatever.  Definitely the opposite.  I’ve fucked some shit up.”

Silence.  Taako couldn’t help but perk his ears up to try and hear if Magnus was still there.  Despite everything, he still  _ liked _ the furball.  He still liked having Magnus around, as selfish as that was.

“...Can I come in?” came Magnus’ voice at last.

Taako weighed his options, but after a moment hesitation, he waved a hand to unlock his door with magic.

There was a loud click as the lock turned, then the door swung open, revealing the hulking frame of Magnus.  He almost took up the entire entrance as he stood there, and when he entered he had to duck down, careful of his horns in the entrance as he did it.  He padded in on all fours and moved next to Taako’s bed. 

This was the first time Taako had ever seen him in this room, and his size was surely emphasized by the cramped space and furniture.  The bed would barely hold his weight, and the chair at the vanity seemed spindly and fragile in comparison to his massive body. The floor was the only place he could feasibly sit, so he rested himself on the ground with his paws crossed, like a massive hound awaiting it’s master.  Magnus didn’t say anything, but he did rest his chin on the end of the bed, furthering the comparison to a devoted dog, black eyes trying not to look too intensely at the figure lying in bed before him.

“I’m a wanted man,” Taako muttered, pushing himself up to a sitting position so he could see Magnus’ face.  “The reason I came here was to hide... from the law.”

Magnus’ head lolled to the side, dark messy hair falling down into his eyes.  “Taako, you would never-”

“I would never  _ what _ ?” Taako snapped back, and he felt something cold in his heart snap as well.  “Never break the law? You’re so fucking  _ trusting _ Magnus, you have  _ no idea _ what kind of person I am!”

Magnus lifted his head off the bed.  “I was going to say you would never do something if it wasn’t for a good reason,” he replied softly.

“Yeah, well, you clearly  _ don’t know me very well _ ,” Taako muttered.

“What, did you steal something?” Magnus asked.  “I’ve stolen things before, we talked about your childhood…  sometimes you gotta do what you can to get by right?”

Taako was silent, weighing his words.  Finally he rolled over to face away from Magnus, pulling the blanket over his face.

“I killed 40 people.”

The silence was deafening.  After what felt like too many seconds without a response, he furiously whipped back over to face Magnus, tearing the covers away as he did.  Taako considered it a blessing that Magnus’ face did not show too much horror on it. His eyes were widened, and he had sat up from the bed entirely.  Now that they were facing each other again, he was looking Taako directly in the eye.

“No, you didn’t.”  His voice was level, unphased.  Taako couldn’t read those black pools he had for eyes.

And he was absolutely furious that he couldn’t.

“You have no fucking idea,” Taako snarled.  “I did! I killed 40 people!”

Magnus shook his head.  “I don’t believe it.”

“Oh you don’t have to  _ believe _ it, it’s true!” Taako cried, throwing his hands up into the air.  “I  _ poisoned _ every member of my audience.  They ate my food, and they all got sick and died within two days!”

“You would never do something like that,” Magnus answered sternly, still looking Taako dead in the eye.  “You’re not that kind of person.”

“Then what kind of person am I?” Taako replied.  “If you know me so fucking well, tell me what kind of person I am!”

“I think... you always take the blame when things go bad around you,” Magnus answered.  “You  _ want _ folks to leave you, because it’s easier than the alternative.”

“And what’s the alternative?” snipped Taako.

“Actually giving a shit,” Magnus replied, “and letting yourself love people.  You don’t want to admit you’re scared of being alone.”

For once, Taako was stunned into silence.  He felt the color drain from his face while at the same time hot tears were starting to build up in his eyes.  He fucking  _ hated _ Magnus.  He hated how good he was at reading him.  Hated how close they had gotten so quickly.  Hated that he was right, but also wrong, because Taako had done something  _ awful, _ even if it was an accident.

“I killed 40 people,” Taako finally answered, unable to think of anything more.  “40 people died because of  _ me _ .”

“40 people died  _ in an accident _ ,” Magnus replied.  “There has to be a reason for what happened, and you aren’t to blame for it.  You would never do something like that.”

“Why are you so  _ sure _ ?” Taako said.  A single, hot tear crept out of his eye and down his cheek, but he didn’t flinch or hesitate.  “Why do you think I  _ wouldn’t _ do that?”

Magnus still was looking straight into him.  “Why are you so willing to believe you  _ would _ ?” he answered.

They sat for a moment, as Taako stared at Magnus and tried to decide what to say.  What did you say to that? How did you convince someone that you deserved to have bad things happen to you?  That you earned the hole you lived in because you were the one digging it? Magnus looked away at last, staring into his reflection in the broken mirror on the vanity.

“I just… I can’t believe someone like you could do something like that,” Magnus admitted.  “And it’s so hard… to hear you talk about yourself like you’re such a horrible person.”

“I  _ am _ a horrible person,” Taako insisted.

“You’ve been nothing but kind to me,” Magnus replied, and for a moment Taako saw his fractured features soften in his reflection, as if he was releasing some tension he had been holding in his face.  “And you’ve given me no reason to  _ not _ trust you.  Maybe… maybe something happened, and if people died, it’s not… it can’t have been your fault.”  He sounded like he was struggling with the words, fumbling them around in his mouth. He turned back to Taako.  “Look me in the eye and tell me, honestly... did you  _ mean _ to hurt anyone?”

And Taako found himself fighting back tears again as they welled up in his eyes.

“I didn’t… I never meant to hurt anyone.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Magnus assured him, putting a large paw on the foot of the bed.  “You don’t deserve bad things.”

“You talk about fault, like you think I shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened,” Taako replied bitterly, “and yet you wander around this castle like a ghost because you blame yourself for what happened here!”

“It _is_ my fault things happened here the way they did,” Magnus argued.  “ _ You _ didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but I came here to overthrow a Lord.  I had violence in my heart and… my punishment hurt even more people than me.  I hurt my friends.  I hurt my _wife_.  I deserve what has happened to me.”

“No, Magnus,” he leaned forward to put his own hand atop Magnus’ paw.  “You _don’t_ deserve this. What happened to you was all kinds of fucked up, but  _ you _ aren’t responsible for what happened!”

At that Magnus withdrew his hand and stood back up on all fours, making his way to the door.  With a longing look back over his shoulder, he glanced at Taako one last time.

“Thanks Taako but…” he growled.  “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for me.”

He left, and Taako didn’t follow.  Maybe he should have but… The look in Magnus’ eyes made it clear he wasn’t interested in arguing about it.  As Taako saw Magnus’ long tail sweep away out of the doorframe, he sort of understood. It was hard to think about your mistakes.  And while it was obvious to Taako that Magnus wasn’t to blame… clearly Magnus felt the same about Taako. Maybe he was right.

Or maybe they both were wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe now that i'm over this difficult exchange this will be easier to write again!


	9. The Sacrifice You Hate To Make

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a tense conversation with the Beast, the Wizard learns of a possible way to reverse the damage the curse has caused, but in a way that the Beast has been purposely avoiding. What could be so terrible to be worse than this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i always WANT to be working on this but i'm back at work full time and the last thing i want to do when coming home from editing kids papers all day is to edit my own stuff, but I'm gonna power through!

Taako stayed in bed for a few more hours before deciding to head downstairs and get something to eat at last.  By now maybe everyone had given up on trying to have heartfelt conversations and he’d be able to get to the kitchen in piece.  He didn’t bother putting his boots on, choosing to pad quietly out of the room in nothing but his shirt, and into the dark hallway once again.

He didn’t see sign of any of the denizens of the castle as he made his way down the stairs.  Thankfully. He didn’t think Magnus would tell anyone what he said, but he was certain rumors would be spreading around the furniture about why Taako had stayed in his room all day, after things had been going so well.

He made it to the kitchen without incident, but was surprised to see a pot already boiling on the stove as he came in.  Walking over, he glanced down at a bushel of what looked like small potatoes, cooking away... without anyone watching them.  The idiot was going to burn the castle down if he wasn’t careful. Taako turned off the low heat and grabbed a fork to check them.  They were a little overdone, but not completely ruined.

“Those are for you,” came a familiar voice, and Taako turned to see Lucretia sitting on the island in the center of the kitchen.  He hadn’t noticed her when he came in, but then again she was so small and looked so at home in this castle, he forgot she was there most of the time.  “Magnus said you might be hungry, but that was the best he could manage.”

“It’s fine,” Taako said, grabbing a pair of tongs and fishing out the boiled roots.  “He’s  _ obviously _ overcooked them, but I can’t expect him to get everything right.”  With potatoes plated, he came and to the island with Lucretia, pulling up a stool and sitting down next to her.  “So… did he leave you in charge?”

“I may have offered to watch the pot, not that I could do much if anything went wrong,” she admitted, showing off her two hands that were rigidly grasping candles in place, “He was going to stay up all night and wait for you, but he had a headache, and I insisted he go to sleep.”

Taako paused mid-chew.  “What, really? He was going to wait up?”

“He was very sure you’d come down and want company,” Lucretia said.  “But he was dozing off while waiting, and I told him he would be no company to you if he was fast asleep.”

“Huh,” Taako hummed, “I wasn’t sure he’d want to see me.”

“Did you two have a falling out?” Lucretia asked.

“Not… not exactly,” Taako admitted, stabbing another overcooked root with his fork.  “We just… I got a little personal and overshared. We weren’t ready for that, obviously.”

Lucretia looked at him, her frozen metal expression showing the same calm serenity it always did, but Taako could tell she was trying to parse what had happened.

“Taako…  I was wondering…” she said carefully, “Does… does he ever talk about what happened?”

“Only in the same non-committal way you all do,” Taako sighed.  “No specifics if that’s what you mean.”

“So not what… What  _ I _ did,” she solemnly replied .

Taako looked her over, suspicious.  “What did  _ you _ do?” Taako asked.

“He hasn’t… he hasn’t even  _ mentioned _ the countercurse?” Lucretia prompted.

Taako nearly dropped his fork in response.

“There’s a  _ countercurse _ ?” he cried, leaning forward towards her.  “Why hasn’t anyone used it?”

“It’s not…  it’s not like that,” Lucretia admitted, holding up her hands still grasping firmly at the candles.  “It was never a guarantee but… Merle and I came up with a spell that could possibly reverse the curse on Magnus but… he was less than receptive to it.”

“Why would he do something like  _ that _ ?” scoffed Taako.  “He hates living like this!  He hates  _ himself! _ ”

“I think that’s your answer right there,” she sighed.  “He doesn’t think he deserves it. And… well, you know what they say.   _ Aegrescit medendo.” _

He blinked.  “I’m sorry what?” Taako replied.

“ _ The remedy is worse than the disease _ ,” she explained, as if that answered everything.

“Soooo there’s a spell you two were planning on casting on him, but now that you’re furniture you can’t?” Taako asked.

“Oh no we  _ were _ able to cast it,” Lucretia answered.  “You’ve seen it’s results. It’s… it’s in the master bath.”

Taako thought back to the ruined bathroom that he had spent a few days helping clean, and found his mind instantly turned to something he had been interested in, but turned away from.

“The fountain?”

“It’s not a  _ fountain _ ,” Lucretia explained.  “We cast a spell on that goblet to make a draught of True Memories.  The hope was that we would be able to help Magnus revisit the seat of his guilt and realize… that all this wasn’t his fault, and maybe that would....”  She trailed off.

Taako paused at that, looking at Lucretia.  “So… So you came to that conclusion too, huh?” he finally answered.  “He’s a monster  _ because _ he hates himself.  That’s what the spell  _ really _ did.”

“That’s my  _ theory _ , I’ve got no proof,” Lucretia replied.  “Merle and I were certain if he were to look at the heart of it, to really think about what happened and the role he played, he would realize he was not to blame.”

“And that would be enough to reverse the curse?” Taako said, uncertain.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.  “But it was the best lead we had.  At the very least, maybe he would be  _ less _ miserable.”

“So why won’t he take his medicine?” Taako wondered, thinking about the constantly overflowing cup.  “Y’all make too much of it?”

“We enchanted the cup to keep generating the draught as long as the person who held it felt regret, so that he would have enough to come to terms with everything,” Lucretia sighed.  “But when he touched it… it just  _ overflowed _ .  Spilling out over the sides and onto the floor.”

“Yikes,” Taako muttered through gritted teeth.  “And he never drank  _ any _ ?”

“He did… but the cup just kept filling.  And he got overwhelmed and then… whatever caused  _ this _ ,” she gestured to herself, “happened.  We think the curse reacted badly, and rebounded on us.  Magnus was horrified.”

“Jeezy creezy,” Taako sighed.

“He has refused to touch it since,” she admitted.  “I think initially he thought he could handle it, but seeing just how  _ much _ it made… I think it scared him from wanting to deal with it.  With wanting to relive it. And then when the rebound happened… I’m sure he’s scared of hurting anyone else.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Lucretia looked down at the table.

“I… I think that chalice  _ could _ have worked, if Magnus had stuck with it,” she explained, hopping a little closer to Taako.  “I agree with your assessment, I think the curse is meant to make him  _ hate _ himself, and  _ that _ is what turned him into a monster.  I really do think that if he had taken the draught fully, he might have come out less miserable… maybe even forgiven himself for what happened.  And maybe that would be enough to break the curse.”

“So we just… gotta talk him into drinking from the chalice again?” Taako answered.

“Not just drink it,” Lucretia confirmed.  “Drink  _ all _ of it, until it stops coming.  It will keep making the draught until he doesn’t need it anymore.”

“But that thing has got to be pumping out gallons of potion every day,” Taako replied, thinking back to the never-ceasing fountain he had seen in the bathroom.  It had generated enough liquid to fill a bathing pool - who knew exactly how much of that Magnus would have to drink?

“He… he feels so guilty about everything,” Lucretia admitted, her voice small.  “I want him to understand... that we don’t blame him.”

Taako folded his arms on the table so that he could lean forward and rest his chin against them, eyes now level with Lucretia’s face.  “I ain’t making any promises,” he sighed, looking her over. “He might not listen to me after everything. But I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’re the first person he’s opened up to in years,” Lucretia answered.  “I think if anyone has a shot to help him regain his humanity, it’s you. He’s got to decide to do it himself, we can’t  _ make _ him, but having you around has caused a change in him.  Maybe he can change even more.”

“Will reversing Magnus’ curse also reverse the curse on the rest of the castle?” he asked.

But as she glanced away from Taako, that seemed to be a concern she wasn’t prepared to tackle.  “Maybe it works on us,” she replied. “Maybe it doesn’t. But if we can change Magnus back, maybe that will give everyone else the courage they need to stave off losing hope for themselves.”

Taako went back to eating his overcooked roots, unsure what to say anymore.  He said he would try but… how would he ever be able to convince Magnus to do it?  He had heard what Magnus had said earlier, he knew how much he blamed himself for what happened.  And what did Taako know? Only what people told him about it. Maybe Magnus  _ had _ done something that he deserved to feel guilty over.  Would he feel right forcing Magnus to relive that through the memory draught, when he himself was avoiding his own guilt about what had happened back in town?

Either way, Lucretia didn’t push the issue any further.

After finishing his dinner, Taako said his good nights and headed off back to his room.  But as he wandered around the bottom floor, he found himself walking past the ruined master bathroom, and he couldn’t help but feel drawn inside.

The rain outside and the potion pouring out of the goblet reverberated around the bathroom, off the tile and high ceilings to the point where it sounded like Taako was underneath a waterfall.  He watched the bubbling liquid cascade down the makeshift fountain it had been placed on, and wondered if he would be willing to drink from something that made him relive what he felt most guilty about.  It seemed like a miserable prospect, even if he hadn’t killed 40 people.

Unsure what else to do, he continued heading back to his room, up the stairs and through the quiet hallway.  But as he stepped off the landing on the second floor, he heard something coming from further up the stairs. A low sound, like an animal in pain.  There was only one animal that he knew of in this castle. He continued climbing the stairs, up to Magnus’ wing.

It seemed like a decade had passed since he had been up here, but really it had only been a day. He had just been up here yesterday, and he and Magnus had fixed the roof together.  And speaking of Magnus… another bellow, coming from further in.

Following the low groans, Taako found himself walking briskly down the long hallway, then running, trying not to think about why Magnus would be making a sound like that.  As it grew louder, Taako began glancing in the rooms as he went past them, searching for a sign of his large friend, but every room was empty. Finally, as he neared the window he had climbed out of yesterday, he saw the door that he remembered Magnus going into to fetch his old tool belt.  It was shut.

“Magnus?” Taako whispered, unsure if he wanted to interrupt.  Leaning into the door to listen, he heard Magnus give another low bellow in response, far more animal then any sound he had made before.  “Magnus a-are you hurt? Say something big guy.”

“Not now, Taako,” came a snarl from behind the door.

Taako tried not to feel too relieved at the fact that Magnus had spoken to him.  He sounded… off. Feral.

“Hey you wouldn’t take no for an answer when you came by  _ my _ room,” Taako insisted.  “I’m here to return the favor.”

A pregnant pause, then Magnus spoke again.  “I don’t… want you to see me like  _ this _ .”

“Like what?” Taako laughed, a nervous chill running down his spine.  “You more naked than usual in there?”

Another moan, and then a sickening  _ snap _ , like a branch breaking.  Panicked, Taako quickly found his hand on the doorknob, throwing the door open before giving it another thought.

It was dark, but Taako’s elven eyes could clearly see Magnus, standing in the center of the room.  He was on his hind legs, hunched over and panting, and his paws gasping tightly to what looked like branches.  Taako took it in for a moment and realized that they were parts of his  _ antlers, _ grasped firmly after being snapped off of his head.

“Mags!” Taako cried, running into the room.

Magnus was startled by Taako’s sudden intrusion, dropping his antlers to the floor.  They clattered loudly against the flagstone, then lay still. With a frantic babbling, Taako grabbed at his paws to look at them.

“It’s fine,” Magnus muttered, trying to pull away, but Taako held firm.  The thick pads of one of his paws was covered in cuts and splinters, and starting to seep blood.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?” Taako cried, looking up at Magnus’ face, “Are you  _ trying _ to hurt yourself, or just  _ stupid _ ?”

“No I-” Magnus tried to pull away again, but Taako gripped his paw harder, trying to get a better look.  “It’s nothing, Taako!”

“You’re fucking  _ bleeding _ and ripping out your  _ antlers _ and you expect me to believe you’re  _ fine _ ?” huffed Taako, quickly casting a spell to wick away the blood.

“It’s not!” Magnus could barely speak, and Taako realized with another glance into Magnus’ eyes that they  _ both _ were on the verge of tears for reasons he could not really understand.  “It’s okay! I’m-”

Taako took a deep breath.  “Maggie- Hold  _ still _ and let me look.” He tried for soothing, but still was a little more curt than he would have liked. He tried again, keeping his voice level this time.  “I just want to  _ look _ .”

Finally Magnus stopped resisting him, and held open his paw to Taako.

“Is this all from your  _ horn _ ?” Taako asked, attempting to stay calm as he pointed at one of the long thin slivers that had worked itself under the skin.

“Sometimes… they splinter,” Magnus mumbled, clearly embarrassed.  “When I... break them.”

“Were you  _ trying _ to break them?” Taako replied, flicking his wrist and watching as an antler shard magically made its way up and out of Magnus’ paw.

“Yes.” Magnus answered firmly.  “They were getting too big.”

“Too big?”

He nodded.  “When they get too big,” Magnus explained, “they start to hurt, they weigh down my neck and head.  I have to break them off when they get too big, or they’ll just keep growing forever.”

“How often is that?” Taako asked.

“Once every month or so,” Magnus admitted.

“Shit.  You could have asked for  _ help _ you idiot,” Taako sighed, reaching up to grab at Magnus’ broken horn and pull his head down so he could see it better.  The edge where the antler had snapped was rough and jagged, like splintered wood. “I’ve got spells that can do a much neater job than this.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t want you to have to worry,” Magnus admitted.

“Well you fucked that up,” Taako said with a soft smile.  “I heard your  _ bellyaching _ downstairs and came up to see what was wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus sighed.  “I didn’t wake you up did-”

“Shut up, and let’s sit down so we can talk,” Taako insisted.

Magnus carefully lead Taako over to a pile of blankets in the corner that Taako had to assume was where he slept.  It was a nest of ripped fabric and shedded fur, and it smelled like the blankets had never been cleaned. But Taako held his tongue and sat down as Magnus flopped onto the blankets with a sigh.

“Normally they don’t….  I’m usually much better at this,” he admitted.  “But I was… my mind was elsewhere.”

“Wouldn’t have to do with  _ me _ , would it?” asked Taako.

Magnus smiled.  “Among other things.”

“Well, looks like we both had our mini crisis today,” Taako laughed, and for the first time tried to take in the room around him.

Magnus room was a magnification of all the mess that had gathered in the castle.  Broken furniture piled together, tattered sheets, grimy windows that kept what little light there was out, and shedded fur gathering in piles on the floor.  Taako noticed a few more pairs of antlers squirrelled away underneath the ruins of what may have once been a lovely bedroom.

“Nice place.”

“I… would have cleaned if I knew you would be here,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.

“Why?” Taako asked.

“Nobody ever comes up here,” Magnus replied.

“You think I don’t know you break shit?” Taako said with a laugh.  “This whole castle is a testament to that.” He glanced up at the rough edges of Magnus’ antlers.  “They grow back real fast, huh?”

“If we stood still long enough, you could see them grow,” Magnus admitted.

“Well do you have a file or something in your toolbelt?  I can soften those jagged edges a little.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Magnus said.  

“Yeah yeah, and yet I’m gonna,” Taako replied, looking around for the belt.  He spotted it, nestled underneath one of the blankets in Magnus’ nest. Pulling it over, he grabbed out the proper tool, then motioned for Magnus to lower his head.  Magnus rested his chin in Taako’s lap, and the elf went to work sanding down the broken edge of antler, like he would do with an errant nail. “So. You live in here?”

“Yeah,” Magnus answered.  “Before the curse, the others had set up a room downstairs where I stayed with Julia.”

“Can we talk about her?” Taako asked.  “Obviously if you don’t want to it’s cool but-”

“I think a lot about what she’d think of me,” Magnus sighed.  “She never saw me like… this.”

“I’m sure she’d still find you just as charming as I do,” Taako said, and he felt Magnus’ rumbling laugh in his lap.  “Something tells me she didn’t marry you for your good looks.”

“I’ll have you know, I was a handsome guy!” Magnus replied.  “I was a real heartbreaker back in the day.”

“Don’t you think… she’d be  _ upset _ to see you like this?” Taako asked, adjusting the file in his grip.

“Maybe but… I don’t know,” he sighed.  “I lost her and then it felt like I lost  _ everything _ .  I’m not sure how much of this… is  _ me _ anymore.”

“You’re still  _ you _ , man.  And anyway, I doubt she’d want you to be miserable,” Taako replied.  “Wouldn’t she want to see you move on from this?”

“Yeah but… move on to what?” Magnus answered.  “Even if I changed back… she’d still be gone. Nothing is going to change that.”

Taako couldn’t explain why that put a lump in his throat, but he swallowed it down.

“Is that why you won’t take Lucretia’s potion?”

A deep sigh.  “She told you about that?”

“They’re all really worried about you,” Taako explained.

“I wish they didn’t care so much,” replied Magnus, “All of this is my fault.”

“I think if they stop caring about you, they’ll have nothing,” Taako answered.  “And if that happens, they’ll lose whatever hope they have left.”

Magnus didn’t answer, but Taako could feel him huff another hot breath out through his nose.

“I think if you really want to make it up to them, you owe it to everyone to try that potion again.”

“I’m… worried,” Magnus replied.  “That potion… You  _ see _ things when you drink it.  It was... a lot to deal with by myself.”

“Well then you  _ won’t _ be by yourself this time,” hummed Taako, checking the edge of the antler he was working on with his fingernail, searching for any rough edges he had missed.  “I’ll be with you.”

“Taako.” Magnus sat up, pulling away from Taako’s minstrations.  He looked Taako in the eyes, a serious frown on his face. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You don’t  _ have _ to ask me,” Taako replied with a shrug.  “I’m gonna do it pro bono. I’m a charitable guy like that.”

“Taako-”

“Magnus, you  _ need _ to face this thing,” Taako was firm.  He reached out to take Magnus’ paw into his hand, and tried his best to ignore the way his heart was pounding.  “If not for you, then for all the other sad sacks in this castle. Your martyrdom isn’t helping anything, you’ve got a shot here that you  _ can’t _ waste, and if staying by your side while you’re going through a rough spot will help then I’m gonna do it.   _ Not _ up for discussion.”

Magnus was stunned, slackjaw and Taako could see the pinpricks of tears forming in Magnus’ black eyes again.  Taako held up his hand, trying to smooth things over.

“H-hey hey!  It’s not like-”

Suddenly Magnus surged forward, wrapping Taako up in his large furry arms and pulling him close in a bone-crushing hug.  Taako squaked and tried to pull away, but Magnus just hugged him harder, nuzzling into him.

“Maggie cut it out!” Taako cried, feeling his face get flush.  “What’s gotten into you?”

“Thank you,” he finally said, muttering softly into Taako’s hair.  “I’m... not sure how I’ll repay you.”

“Yeah well stop trying to  _ crush _ me to death and we’ll be even,” Taako laughed weakly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments inspire me to write more.


	10. To Drink In All Your Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time at last for the Beast to try the Draught of Memories, but he's still afraid. The Wizard concocts a way for them to get through this experience together, and ends up sharing more about himself than he previously had hoped to. Can they both finally open up enough to reach the truth?

Magnus didn’t want to try Lucretia’s potion right away.  He insisted that he would tell Taako when he was ready, that he needed some time to work up the courage.  Taako was suspicious, but trusted that Magnus knew he would not be able to avoid it forever. Still, days began to pass and Magnus still had not said that he was ready.  Taako waited for him to bring it up during their evening cooking sessions, but Magnus didn’t seem interested in talking about it. A whole week went by, and Taako found himself on tender hooks every time he saw Magnus.

Still, he didn’t want to rush him, even as he slowly watched Magnus’ antlers grow back day after day.  Taako had no idea what kind of secrets Magnus was dealing with, and he wasn’t going to force him into an uncomfortable situation.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to make  _ me _ relive the things I felt the crummiest about,” Taako explained to Davenport one night after Magnus had failed to bring it up  _ again _ at dinner.  “That’s got to be rough, right?  He’ll come around to it eventually on his own.”

“He’ll come around,” repeated Davenport, “Right?”

“There’s no way he doesn’t own up to it,” Taako assured him.  “He’s too upset about how things played out for y’all  _ not  _ to do something.”

But as a second week slowly began to crawl by, Taako began to doubt his trust in Magnus.

“He said he was going to do it,” Taako explained, flicking a spell off to scour a pan.  “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t go back on his word, but I’m worried, you know?”

“I’m sure he’s not avoiding the subject on purpose,” Lucretia replied from her place on the countertop.  “That’s not really his way, he’s a fairly straightforward person. He’ll let you know when he’s ready, I’m sure of it.”

“I know, but how long is it going to take for him to  _ be _ ready?” Taako laughed.  “Not that  _ I’m _ in a hurry, but I imagine the sooner we do this the better it is for everyone.”

“We all have time still,” Lucretia soothed.  “Don’t rush him. We’ll all stick it out until he’s ready.”

But Taako wasn’t sure Magnus’ hesitation warranted such patience.  It seemed awfully nice of Lucretia to be so accommodating of his fears, given that this potion could actually save them all.  Taako couldn’t help but wonder if Lucretia also felt guilty for what had happened. That she took some responsibility for the unexpected repercussions her magic had caused.  As much as Magnus blamed himself for what had happened, it was clear Lucretia felt some of the blame was hers as well.

Everyone in this place had more than enough guilt to go around.

Then, just as it seemed Magnus had forgotten the whole thing entirely, he stopped Taako outside the kitchen one evening before their cooking lesson.

“Tomorrow,” he said, nervously scratching at his neck.  “After dinner tomorrow, we’ll go to the bath and… do this.”

“Yeah sure,” Taako replied, uncertain what had prompted the change.  “Whatever you want big guy.”

“I thought… I thought about what you said.  About Jules,” he continued, not making eye contact as he continued his nervous scratching.  “I think… she’d be disappointed I’d given up, you know? There’s a lot of stuff I’ve done that I’m not proud of, but she was always so  _ confident _ in her decisions.  I think if we were switched she… she wouldn’t have hesitated, you know?”

Taako didn’t know.  He didn’t know anything about Julia at all.  But Magnus looked so worried, and he felt his heart thumping in his chest and before he knew it he was reaching out to brush a hand against his furry cheek, distracting the beast from his worrying at last.

“She’s proud of you,” Taako answered.  He had no idea, but this seemed like what Magnus needed right now.  “It’s hard, you know… keeping yourself alive when you’re miserable. She’d be proud to see you’ve held on as long as you have, and now you’re finally getting a chance to make good.  She would want that for you.”

But Magnus didn’t look confident or pleased at this statement, he simply pulled his face away from Taako’s hand and resumed his nervous worrying.

Taako resumed his worrying too.

The next 24 hours felt longer than any Taako had ever experienced before.  What exactly was waiting for him when they finally used the potion? He had promised Magnus he’d be there for him, but what help would he even be?  He spent a good portion of the day in his room, pouring over spellbooks he had found in the library, trying to focus his nervous energy on something useful.

“There has to be a spell that can, like… let me see what he sees,” Taako said, flipping through the pages of the dusty tome.  “If he’s going to see shit when he drinks the potion, I’ll be able to comfort him better if I know what it is he’s dealing with.”

“So Taako knows what shit  _ he’s _ dealing with,” Davenport replied.

“No it’s not because I  _ want _ to know,” he snapped back, then immediately felt guilty.  “Sorry Dav I didn’t mean to.... I mean I’m  _ curious _ but…  If he doesn’t want to tell me that’s fine I just… ah!  Here we go.”

The spell was meant to share telepathic bond between multiple people, and while it wasn’t a spell Taako would normally use it was certainly one he was capable of casting.  It required a few eggshells to cast it, but it wasn’t too difficult from what he could tell. 

Getting to his feet and gathering the spell book up in his arms, he headed downstairs to check the kitchen.  Occasionally Magnus had brought home bird eggs while foraging in the woods, and if they had any on hand those shells would do nicely.

As he rounded the corner to the hallway outside the kitchen, he found Magnus nervously pacing there, wringing his massive hands as he looked around.

“Hey big guy,” Taako said as he approached, “You looking for me?”

“No I was… waiting until it was time to make dinner,” he explained.

“That’s not for at least another hour,” Taako answered, putting a hand on his hip.

“Is it?  Oh I… I guess I didn’t realize…”

But Taako could see in Magnus’ eyes that he knew exactly what time it was.

It was obvious really.  He was staying by the kitchen to keep himself from running away.

“Hey listen I found a spell we can use tonight,” Taako said, taking Magnus’ paw gently in his hand.  “You said you see things when you take the potion? Well I found a spell that will let me see what you see.”

“Really?” Magnus said, his voice jumping in a way that Taako couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear.

“Yeah I figured… that way you really won’t be alone,” Taako explained.  “It won’t just be me sitting next to you while you trip out on your own, and comforting you afterwards.  I’ll be there with you for real, if you want me to.”

“Wow that’s… Magic is so crazy,” Magnus replied as Taako led him into the kitchen.

“We need eggshells though,” replied Taako, “So dinner is just gonna be scrambled eggs so we have enough of them to cast the spell.”

“I think that will be alright,” Magnus laughed.

Thankfully there were a lot of eggs left in the basket from Magnus’ most recent excursion.  They were brown and speckled, probably grouse from the look of it. Not the most tasty eggs, but they had shells and that’s all that really mattered at this point.  Taako reached in to grab a couple when Magnus stopped him.

“Is it alright if I made dinner?” Magnus asked.

“I mean… if you want,” Taako answered, looking unsure.  “You think you can handle it?”

“I actually  _ do _ know how to make scrambled eggs,” Magnus assured him.  “It was one of the few dishes I learned how to make when I was human.  And… I want to do something nice for you. If you’ll let me.”

Taako felt a hot blush creeping up into his face as he sat himself down at the counter and watched Magnus busy himself with the eggs, stove, and pan.  

In the few weeks they had been doing cooking lessons, Taako had enchanted a few of the kitchen utensils to be larger so that Magnus could handle them better.  It had helped. He wasn’t perfect, still rather clumsy with his large bulky paws, but he was improving once he had equipment that could fit in his hands. He still had terrible taste, but he was learning, and he was getting better.  And Taako didn’t give him too much shit about how much fur he got in the food.

Magnus took an egg in hand, cracking on the edge of the pan, and setting the shells aside for Taako, then another.  And Taako watched as Magnus rolled his pan over the heat, mixing the eggs carefully with a wooden spoon. He seemed a lot more relaxed now that he had something to do with himself.

“I made scrambled eggs for Julia the day after our wedding,” Magnus explained as he worked, careful not to take his eyes off the pan as he cracked another egg into it.  “She knew I was a terrible cook, but she let me do it anyway. I said to her ‘We’re partners now, so that means we share everything, even if it’s less than perfect.’ And she smiled at me and… she said ‘It will always  _ be _ perfect as long as we try our best’ and…  I want to try my best, Taako. I’m scared as fuck but I want to try.”

After a moment of silence, he tipped the eggs onto a plate and carefully set them in front of Taako.  Taako could feel a lump in his throat forming. Why was Magnus telling him this?

“Well… how did I do chef?” Magnus asked with a soft smile.

Taako snapped out of his daze, and picked up his fork.

It was clear within a single bite that the eggs were  _ not _ that great.  Undercooked, a little rubbery, and completely flavorless.  Magnus hadn’t ruined them, but they certainly weren’t up to Taako’s standards.  But looking into Magnus’ eyes, he knew he wanted to thank him for this moment of vulnerability.  Things would only get harder from here.

“They’re perfect, man,” he said softly, unable to help a smile.  “Good job.”

They spent the next half hour cooking eggs together, and once their plates were cleared and the pans were washed, Taako and gathered up the eggshells and spellbook and quietly made his way to the main bath, Magnus following closely behind.  The sound of water pouring down into the basin was deafening as they approached, echoing around the room and down the hallway. Taako found himself reaching for Magnus’ hand in both a show of support and a little bit of his own nerves. Once they made it to the doorway, Magnus tightened his grip on Taako’s hand.

“So… so we just gotta have you finish it off,” Taako said, afraid to let go of Magnus’ hand even though it was almost crushing him.

“Yeah…” Magnus replied, sounding like his mind was a million miles away from them.  “Yeah.”

Taako followed the beast’s gaze to the overflowing cup, as what seemed like gallons of clear memory draught poured out of it.

“Hey.” Taako said, shaking Magnus’ hand a little to get his attention.  “I’m gonna be here the whole time. We’ll get through this.”

He led Magnus over carefully, grateful they had cleared the floor of the broken glass because Magnus seemed to be in a trance as they walked.  He brought Magnus to the edge of the pool and set down his spellbook, gesturing for the beast to sit while he fetched the chalice. Magnus did, slowly, and Taako came around to the makeshift fountain of memory draught.

Taako felt a twinge of panic as he reached for the goblet on top of the fountain.  What would happen when  _ he _ touched it?  Lucretia had said that the reason the chalice was overflowing was because Magnus had been the last one to touch it, that he felt so  _ guilty _ it overwhelmed him.  But Taako… would he overflow it as well?  Or worse… would there be  _ nothing in there at all _ .  He had killed 40 people and was just going on like nothing happened.  He hesitated, afraid he could unleash a tidal wave or find he was as heartless as he had always thought he might be.  Then, taking a deep breath, he surged forward and wrapped his hands around the cup.

It did not overflow, and Taako felt his heart sink.  But as he pulled it down, he found that it was not  _ empty _ either.  The liquid had stopped pouring over the sides, but the goblet was filled completely, right up to the lip of it.  As he carefully walked with it over to Magnus, the liquid occasionally spilled over the side, but then quickly replaced itself so the chalice was never empty no matter how much of it spilled.

Taako found himself standing at Magnus’s side, gripping the cup tightly.  He tried to hold it out for Magnus, but Magnus hesitated. Taako nodded and set the cup down, sitting on the floor next to Magnus.

“Let’s cast that spell first, right?” Taako said, pulling the eggshells leftover from dinner out of his pocket.  

“So it will let you… know what I’m seeing?” Magnus asked.

“And thinking, to a degree,” Taako explained, and Taako could see Magnus’ face sink.  “It’s not one way, you’ll be able to sense me too, but it’s not like mind reading or anything.  Just a shared space for thoughts. If we want each other to know something, we will.”

“O-okay,” Magnus fumbled.  “That doesn’t sound too bad I guess.”

Taako crushed some of the shells in his hand as he whispered the spell that he had read earlier that day, and then opened his palm and carefully held out his eggshell-filled hand for Magnus to take.  “Alright. Grab my hand if this is okay with you.”

Magnus did, slowly, and the moment their hands touched Taako felt himself overwhelmed with a sense of dread and foreboding that made his hands shake.  It took a second for him to realize that this wasn’t  _ his _ feeling, this was Magnus he was feeling.  Magnus was afraid, and he was letting him know that.  They released hands, and the eggshells had disappeared.

“Hey hey hey,” Taako tried to soothe, feeling a sense of panic he wasn’t entirely sure was his. “It’s gonna be okay Mags.  You don’t have to be scared.”

“Taako I  _ am _ scared,” Magnus insisted.  “I don’t want to lie to you.  The last time I drank from this cup I turned all my friends into  _ furniture _ .  What if that happens to  _ you _ ?”

“Kalen didn’t curse  _ me _ ,” Taako replied, “I’m not going to change into a lamp or whatever.  You can’t get hung up on what  _ might _ happen!  Come on man, you can do this!”

“I just don’t know if I can-”  He was gesturing wildly, unable to steady himself as he looked around the room in a panic.  “I don’t know if you will-” He flailed his arms, and accidentally bumped into the cup sitting between them.

“Magnus stop!” Taako cried, grabbing the chalice off the floor before it could be knocked over.  “It’s gonna be fine. Look, I’ll drink first, right? To show you nothing bad will happen. We’ll do this together.  I promised you we would do this  _ together _ .”

And with that, Taako quickly took a drink from the chalice before he had a chance to think.

The second the tasteless potion hit his stomach, Taako could feel the walls of the master bath fading away into a white fog.  Panicked, he dropped the cup, and felt Magnus’ hand reach out to him and grab his shoulder.

“It’s… it’s okay Taako!” he said, squeezing his shoulder.  “I see it too. It’s the potion. It’s showing us a memory of yours.”

The fog seemed to clear, and then Taako found himself standing on the edge of a familiar place.

The farmhouse looked the same as it did the day he left, which is to say it looked like shit.  Aunt Lorraine never did much to keep it in good shape. But as he looked closer he realized that this  _ was _ the day he left; he could see his bag sitting on the porch, just waiting for him to finish telling his aunt he was leaving and come out for it.

“This is your aunt’s farm?” Magnus asked, thought it was less of a question and more of a confirmation.  “The one you left when you became a chef?” Magnus released his shoulder and reached for Taako’s hand as he stared off in the foggy distance where some goats were eating grass.

“Y-yeah,” he replied with a nervous laugh, glancing from the yard over at the closed farmhouse door.  “What’s the deal, isn’t this potion supposed to show you the things you  _ regret _ ?”

“ _ Taako _ ,” Magnus said softly.

Just then the farmhouse door slammed opened, and out stepped  _ another _ Taako.  He was gangly and thin, younger looking only in that he didn’t seem as world weary, not as worn from years on the road.  His long hair was tied up in a bandana as he stormed out the door to grab his bag.

“I’m telling you Lorraine, I  _ can’t _ stay here anymore!” the other Taako shouted back at the house.  “I’ll fucking go crazy if I have to milk one more goat! I’m leaving for  _ good _ , and you can’t stop me!”

An older elf stepped onto the porch, hair greying and eyes on the verge of tears.  The family resemblance with Aunt Lorraine was strong, they had the same sharp nose and thin cheeks.  She put a hand on the doorframe of the farmhouse, looking at Taako with a worried expression.

“Taako honey I’m scared of losing you  _ too _ !” she said, a hand going to her chest as she took a deep breath.

“Too?” Magnus asked.

“My folks died when I was just a kit,” Taako explained quietly.  “Lorraine was real close with them, from what I understand. Guess that’s how she got stuck with  _ me _ .”

The other Taako did not have the same quiet nature.  “Yeah well you’re so scared of  _ losing _ me you don’t ever let me  _ do _ anything!” Taako cried.  “You don’t even let me go into town on my own!  You’re always just…  _ smothering _ me.  But I’m an adult, I don’t have to stay here!”

“No you don’t but-”

“I’m sick and tired of being a nobody from nowhere,” Taako continued, spitting his words at his aunt with such disdain.  “I want to be someone that people can  _ never _ forget!  And you  _ hate _ that.  You hate that I  _ want _ to go out there and be somebody and leave you behind.  I’m gonna make a name for myself, and you’re just gonna stay here continuing to be  _ nobody _ because you’re too afraid of what  _ could _ happen.”

“Taako-”

“No.  Fuck this, I’m out.”

At that Taako looked away from the scene and his younger self, and stared at the ground.

“I was kinda a little shit,” he muttered, and he felt Magnus grip his hand.  The younger Taako had started making his way to the gate on the far side of the yard.

“Taako!” his aunt cried, getting hysterical.  “Taako honey please don’t leave! I’ll be all alone here!  I don’t have anyone else!”

But he didn’t stop, reaching the gate and unlatching it without so much as a word.  With that, Aunt Lorraine collapsed on the porch in tears, chest heaving with heavy sobs.

“What made you want to leave so badly?” Magnus asked.

“I … one day I got this  _ feeling... _ that there was something out there  _ waiting _ for me, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaving,” Taako said with a shrug.  “I couldn’t stay here anymore.”

“Did you visit her?”

“I, uh… never saw her again,” Taako said, glancing over at his former self as he left the yard and started out on the road.  He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “She got sick and… I tried to come back after I had made a little bit of a name for myself, see if I could help her with the bills or whatever as thanks for taking care of me but... but she was already gone.  No one knew how to get in contact with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus said.

“I always felt like I was missing  _ something _ while I lived here,” Taako admitted.  “I thought it was that I wanted to be famous, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.  I was looking for something that felt like  _ home _ .  But sometimes I wonder… did I miss out on a good life by  _ not _ staying here?  Or did I blow the only home I’d ever have over a  _ feeling _ ?  She must have hated me after I left.”

“I’m sure she didn’t,” Magnus assured him.

“ _ I  _ sure hated me.”

“Taako you can’t… you couldn’t have known,” Magnus tried to explain.  “There was no way you could have known she’d get sick. And clearly you meant to come back, you were planning on it!  I’m sure she was worried about you, but I don’t think she would have hated you. And I don’t think you should hate yourself over it either.”

“How can I  _ not _ ?” Taako replied.

“By  _ forgiving _ yourself for the mistakes you didn’t know you were making,” Magnus answered.

At that, the memory began to get hazy and fade away, and before they knew it they were once again sitting in the master bath.  Taako glanced down at the cup he had dropped. It had landed upright, and he could see that the memory potion was still in the cup, but it was just a tiny bit  _ less _ full.  

He felt a tiny bit more empty.

“The cup…” Magnus said softly.  “It didn’t refill.”

“Lucretia said… it would only produce the amount of potion that you needed,” Taako realized.  “I think… I think what you said to me made me… Maybe I’m not  _ totally _ guilt free about what happened but…” He smiled weakly.  “I could at least  _ try _ to forgive myself?”

At that Magnus chuckled, putting a massive paw on Taako’s knee for support.

“Shit,” Taako laughed, fighting back tears.  “I did not expect it to get rough right off the bat like that.  Sorry man I didn’t realize-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Magnus replied.  “I’m glad I got to see that. It took a little  _ sting _ off...  The last time I did this I was all alone in what I was seeing, and it felt so incredibly  _ raw _ .  Like all my mistakes were being put on trial.  And… I dunno, seeing that other people have things they regret too… Makes it a little easier, you know?”

“Glad to shell out my personal traumas for your benefit,” Taako teased softly, picking up the cup and handing it out to Magnus.  “Your turn though?”

“Yeah… yeah okay.”

Magnus wrapped his large hands around the cup, and it instantly overflowed.  Taako tried not to be too startled as the cold liquid poured out and into his lap.  He had a feeling getting wet was going to be the least of his worries as Magnus carefully lifted the cup to his maw and drank.

The world started to fade away again into a white haze, and Taako wasn’t sure what to expect when the fog cleared, but he did not expect it to be the exact same place they were before.  Well, not  _ exact _ .  They were certainly in the master bathroom, but there were some noticeable differences.  For one, there was actual  _ furniture _ .  Dozens of elaborately carved marble benches, delicate full length mirrors lining the walls, vanities covered in colorful glass bottles, an ornately crafted wooden changing screen by the bathing pool.  And the floor was clean, shiny like it had recently been waxed. The fountain was there, but missing that top layer, and not overflowing with potion. Sunlight streamed in through the windows.

“Holy shit,” Taako said, grabbing Magnus’ shoulder.  “Is this…”

“Yeah,” Magnus replied, voice low.  “It is.”

Just then the doors to the bath flew open, and in ran a man Taako did not recognize.  Tall, greying hair and goatee, with an elaborate set of plate armor and a cape flourishing behind him, the man scrambled into the room in a panic, looking frantically for something.

“Kalen,” Taako said, though he had no idea how he knew that until he realized he knew that because  _ Magnus _ knew that.  That was how Magnus knew it was Aunt Lorraine’s farm they had seen.  And Magnus knew  _ this  _ man, and with their shared telepathic link that meant  _ Taako _ knew him too.  And then…

Taako honestly had not considered that the Magnus of his memories would be any different than the one he knew, but when he felt a wave of regret and longing pass over him, he looked up to see Magnus staring hard at a figure who had entered the room in a rush and he knew.  He  _ knew _ that  _ this _ was Magnus too.

The young man who stood in the doorway was tall and muscular, with long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and a thick bushy beard.  He had a black eye at the moment, a broken arrow shaft sticking partially out of his shoulder, and he was holding an axe in one hand and a shield in the other.  He looked  _ heroic,  _ handsome, and dashing, and Taako felt swept away by it all.

“Kalen!” the young man shouted, and Taako easily recognized that voice even without the mouthful of fangs to muddle it.  “You’ve got nowhere to go. It’s  _ over _ .”

And as he spoke Taako found himself flush because he realized that  _ this _ was Magnus.  The  _ real _ Magnus.  This was the man he was before the curse.  A handsome, young, human man, full of brash energy and strength, fighting for something he believed in.  He almost couldn’t reconcile this with the timid beast he had come to know, the Magnus who had hidden himself away in this castle for years.

The younger Magnus rushed Kalen, quickly followed by a crowd of people that Taako realized were the other residents of the castle.  He had no idea who any of them were, but there were humans and dwarves and elves and gnomes and halflings and half orcs and dragonborn - an entire city full of people rising up against the man who had caused them so much grief.  The crowd quickly overwhelmed Kalen, and Magnus was able to throw down his weapon and grab him by his armor to shove him up against the wall.

“It’s  _ over _ ,” Magnus repeated.

“You fools!” Kalen laughed.  “You cannot stop me!”

Taako looked over to the Magnus he knew, the beast slumped and sitting on the floor like he was ashamed.

“Do you… really  _ regret _ this?” Taako asked, hesitant.

“Shut up!” the younger Magnus cried, slamming Kalen against the wall again.  “These people have had  _ enough _ of your tyranny, and they aren’t going to take it anymore.  You’re  _ under arrest _ , Kalen, by order of the people of this city.  You need to stand trial for the things you have done!”

“I regret…” Magnus replied, looking at Taako sadly.  “I regret letting him  _ live _ .”

“Idiot!  There will be no  _ trial _ ,” Kalen scoffed, wrestling against Magnus’ firm grip.  “I curse every last one of you! Mark my words, you will be devoured by a  _ beast _ before I ever see your so-called ‘justice’!”

“Magnus!” cried someone from the crowd as the townspeople all began to nervously mutter.  “Just kill the bastard!” shouted another. “Let him go before we’re all killed!” screamed yet another. And with that the crowd started to panic, their voices rising up in a frenzy of uncertainty.

“He’s just trying to scare you all!” Magnus shouted back to the crowd.  “This is what he’s done to you! Made you afraid! But it’s over! We don’t have to be like  _ him _ !  We’ve won!”

“It’s far from  _ over _ !” Kalen replied thickly, a trickle of blood emerging from his mouth.  “Mark my words, everyone who raised a hand against me on this day will  _ suffer _ until there is nothing left but pain and misery!  You will all see! You may have captured me, but you’ll always be  _ my _ prisoners!”

At that, Magnus wrenched Kalen away from the wall, and a few of the less nervous citizens stepped forward with ropes to capture him for good.  They tied him, gagged him, and stood back in hesitation. Once he was bound and nothing happened beyond his futile struggling, the people regained a little confidence, and began to cheer and celebrate as they lead the tyrant off to the castle’s dungeon.

As the people of the town left, Taako could see that a few were staying behind to talk with the younger Magnus and thank him for everything he had done.

“We honestly cannot repay you for this,” said a young woman with dark skin, her frizzy white hair tied up in a bun.  Her features were familiar as well as her voice, and Taako realized that this had to be Lucretia. The delicate metal woman in the candlestick resembled this young woman quite a bit.

“We don’t need to be paid,” Magnus answered, taking the hand of another young woman (very tall, muscular, wild bushy black hair, the slightest hint of a point to her ears, and Taako could feel a surge of warmth surrounding him as they looked at her - this had to be Julia).  “We’re just happy to have helped.”

“Do you really think it wise, letting him live?” said a gruff older dwarf who made Taako instantly think of the old broken clock, Merle.

“We have to be better than him,” Magnus answered.  “He wouldn’t hesitate to silence any one of us, we need to be better and give him the justice he deserves.”

“I was an idiot,” said the Magnus at Taako’s side.  “ _ Stupidly _ naive.  If I had killed him none of this would have happened.”

“Magnus is right!” came a voice Taako instantly recognized as Davenport’s, and saw an older gnome step forward to the human Magnus and extend a hand.  “We cannot return his cruelty with more cruelty. He will face our well earned wrath, but it will be  _ lawful _ and it will be  _ fair.” _

Magnus took the hand of the gnome and shook it.  “Exactly,” Magnus replied. “I’m glad you agree Captain.”

“I still think you should have killed the bastard,” Merle answered.  “But hey, what do I know.”

“Merle  _ was _ right, I should have killed him,” growled Magnus.

“Magnus you were being a good person,” Taako replied, looking back at his beastly friend.  “You were doing what you thought was  _ right _ .”

“And look at all the people that got hurt!” Magnus cried.  “What does it matter that I was  _ kind _ or  _ heroic _ if everyone still suffered?  What good is being  _ right _ when everything still turned out so wrong?”

“You couldn’t help that though!” cried Taako in response.  “You couldn’t have known- There was no way to know things would break bad when you tried to do the right thing!”

“If I had killed Governor Kalen back then, nobody I cared about would have gotten hurt!” bellowed Magnus, and tears began to stream through the fur around his eyes.  “I was playing the hero like it was a  _ game _ and I didn’t even  _ consider _ that not everyone would be playing fair!  I should have known he would do something like this!  I should have known that-”

“Magnus.”

Julia was speaking, her head tucked neatly into the younger Magnus’ shoulder as she leaned over him.  She smiled, twisting her head to look at her husband fondly, and Taako felt a pit forming in his stomach at the way that both Magnus’ looked back at her, eyes full of adoration and love.

“You did the right thing, honey,” Julia said quietly.  “You would have never been able to forgive yourself if you had killed him.”

At that, both Magnus’ froze.

“She’s right,” Taako replied.  “You make all of this your fault, but if you had killed him you would have regretted that too.”

“But at least I would have suffered  _ alone _ ,” Magnus growled.

“And that makes it  _ better _ ?” Taako cried, turning to face him.  “ _ All _ suffering sucks, Maggie, doesn’t matter who is doing it.  You had a  _ shit _ situation you had no control over, and you tried to do what you thought was  _ right _ .  I wish I had a  _ fraction _ of the resolve you did on that day, maybe I wouldn’t be the fucked up loser I am now!  Killing him would have been easy, but you would have always wondered if things could have gone  _ differently _ .  And that would have eaten away at you too.  You did the  _ right thing _ , Magnus.”

Taako took a hand and put it on Magnus’ cheek.

“You have to forgive yourself for shit you can’t have known,” Taako said, echoing the advice Magnus had given him.  “It’s not fair to you and it’s not doing any good.”

At that, the scene around them began to fade away back into the ruined bath they had left.  Magnus squeezed his eyes shut as more hot tears rolled off his face, and he leaned into Taako’s hand.  Taako ruffled a bit of the fur on magnus’ cheek, and the both laughed weakly.

“Funny how you and I apparently need the same advice,” Magnus said softly.  “We just need to hear it from someone other than ourselves.”

Taako glanced down at the cup still in Magnus’ hand, which was still overflowing but noticeably  _ less _ so, as if less potion was being created.  The liquid spilled out in a stream rather than a torrent.

“I think…  I think we just needed someone else to tell us it’s okay,” Taako answered.  “It’s okay to make mistakes.”

“The cup isn’t empty though.”

“You and I still have things we need to figure out,” Taako replied with a sniff.  “We aren’t done forgiving ourselves, I guess.”

“ _ Fuck, _ I knew this would be hard, but I didn’t realize this would be so  _ much _ ,” Magnus laughed, tears still streaming down his face.  “It’s a lot to deal with.”

Taako took the cup from Magnus’ hand once more.

“So we take turns,” answered Taako, holding the chalice up as if he was about to do a toast.  “And we help each other through it. I share a little of my damage, you share a little of yours, and we help each other see the other side of it.  Right?”

Magnus nodded.  “Yeah… right.”

“Alright big guy,” Taako said, lifting the cup to his lips once more.  “Bottoms up or whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to end this here for pacing reasons because otherwise the chapter would be way too long, but hopefully the next part will be up soon!

**Author's Note:**

> my original plan was to write a bunch and have scheduled updates, but my crippling desire for feedback is preventing that, so I will update as things come up I guess


End file.
